Pub date 5th February 2000
Original publisher Chicken House/ Scholastic (UK)
International publishers Dudaj (Albania), Bard (Bulgaria),Editora Schwarcz (Brazil), Zhejiang (China), Mladinska Knjiga Zalozba (Croatia), Euromedia Group (Czech Republic), Gyldendal (Denmark), Elias (Egypt), Tiritamm (Estonia), Foroya Laerarafelag (Faro Islands), Otava (Finland), Hachette (France), Bakur Sulakauri (Georgia), Livanis (Greece), Ciceró Könyvstudió Kft (Hungary), Ofoq (Iran), Kinneret-Zmora (Israel), Bjartur-Verold (Iceland), Gramedia (Indonesia), Mondadori (Italy), WAVE (Japan), Jumava (Latvia), Alma Littera (Lithuania), Querido (Netherlands), Cappelen Damm (Norway), Bertrand (Portugal), Trei (Romania), Rosman Group (Russia), Alfa-Narodna Knjiga (Serbia), Ikar (Slovakia), Mladinska knjiga Zalozba (Slovenia), Opal (Sweden), Titan Publishing (Taiwan), Nanmeebooks (Thailand), Arkadas Yayincilik (Turkey), Shkola (Ukraine)
Two orphaned children are on the run, hiding among the crumbling canals and misty alleyways of the city. Befriended by a gang of street cildren and their mysterious leader, the Thief Lord, they shelter in an old disused cinema. On their trail is a bungling detective, obsessed with disguises and the health of his pet tortoises. But a greater threat to the boys’ new-found freedom is something from a forgotten past – a beautiful magical treasure with the power to spin time itself.