The epic finale to my bestselling historical fantasy trilogy, set during Melbourne’s great hardship of the mid-1890s. This book is ideal for readers aged 9-12, and is best enjoyed as a sequel to The Grandest Bookshop in the World and The Bookseller’s Apprentice.
NEW: The Lost Book of Magic
Book 3 - 1895
As the 19th century comes to an end, Melbourne is in crisis. The colony of Victoria is ravaged by drought, heatwaves, and financial hardship. And Pearl and Vally Cole's father has suggested the unthinkable: it might be time to close the grandest bookshop in the world.
When a ghostly visitor offers Pearl magic that could save her home, she seizes her chance. But her new friend is not what he seems, and the unstoppable magic in the palm of her hand comes at a terrible cost.
Vally can see just one way to save Pearl before she is lost forever. He must call upon the sinister magician who nearly destroyed the Cole family two years ago. But the Obscurosmith only performs the impossible for a price …
Reunite with old friends, solve fiendish puzzles, and find five lost treasures from across the globe in this sweeping adventure that concludes the story of The Grandest Bookshop in the World.
The Inspiration
In the mid-1890s, Melbourne’s age of prosperity came to an end as multiple disasters struck at once. The Gold Rush petered out in Victoria; the land boom ended; the banks collapsed; and harsh natural conditions including droughts and heatwaves hit Victoria’s agricultural industries hard. Businesses closed, families starved, disease was widespread, crime rates shot up, and racism increased.
During this time, Cole’s Book Arcade brought much-needed light into the lives of Melburnians, especially children and their families — but the recession threatened the bookshop, too.
In researching this period, I was struck by the similarities between that time and ours. It must have seemed then, as now, that the world was coming to an end — yet people survived, society progressed, and problems that once had seemed insurmountable became things of the past. I felt I owed it to my young readers to tell them, as truthfully as I could, that there is hope for their future.
Most of the locations in this book are beloved institutions of science and culture that survive to this day! Experience the grandeur of the Federal Coffee Palace with a visit to the Grand Coffee Palace, better known these days as the Hotel Windsor. Many of the buildings in Melbourne’s Chinatown have survived since the 19th century, and the Museum of Chinese Australian History can tell you who once lived there. The State Library of Victoria (pictured) retains much of its 19th-century splendour, especially the Ian Potter Queen’s Hall, which inspired E.W. Cole to create his marvellous Book Arcade. The Melbourne Zoo is vastly different now than it was in the 1800s, but you can walk the same paths and picnic under the same trees as people have for over 160 years. Book a tour of the Melbourne Observatory to discover science history right in the city — and maybe even see a planet, like I did!
