Clockwork Queen

Sophie must play the role of the Clockwork Queen in order to free her father in this page-turning historical adventure from Cogheart author Peter Bunzl.

Chess prodigy Sophie Peshka inherited her love of the game from her grandmaster father. But now that he has been imprisoned in the dungeons of the Winter Palace in St Petersburg by powerful Empress Catherine the Great, Sophie must use all her strategic skill and cunning to help him escape.

Part of Sophie's plan involves an incredible chess-playing automaton called the Clockwork Queen, but will the Queen be able to outwit the Empress in a game where the stakes are a matter of life and death?

About the Author

Peter grew up in South London in a rambling Victorian house with three cats, two dogs, one sister, an antique-dealer dad and an artist mum.

He is a BAFTA-winning animator, as well as a writer and film-maker. Like Lily and Robert, he loves adventures and reading penny dreadfuls, but wishes dearly that he had a mechanical fox called Malkin.

About the Illustrator

Lia Visirin was born in a small town in Transylvania, Romania, where she now lives with her husband and lots of house plants. She discovered her passion for children's illustrations very early on and has since illustrated a number of books, including Illustrated Stories of Pixies, Elves and Goblins (Usborne) and The Runaways of Haddington Hall (Vivian French, Walker). Lia gets inspiration from nature, old photographs and childhood memories.