The weathermonger

Long-awaited new editions of Peter Dickinson's cult classics England in the future - but an England that is less rather than more civilised.

This is the time of The Changes - a time when people, especially adults, have grown to hate machines and returned to a more primitive lifestyle.

It is a time of hardship and fear...When 16-year-old Geoffrey, a "weathermonger" starts to repair his uncle's motorboat, he and his sister Sally are condemned as witches.

Fleeing for their lives, they travel to France - where they discover that everything is normal.

Returning to England, they set out to discover why the country is under this mysterious spell.

Only discovering the origin of the deadly magic will allow them to set the people free of its destructive influence.

Peter Dickinson began writing the books after he'd had a nightmare.

The trilogy is not sequential; rather, each book explores a different aspect of England during the time that simply became known as The Changes.