'If an Outsider wields the blade, the House of Koronos burns...'Hylas is only a boy but he knows three things:The Gods exist.Magic is real.Somebody wants him dead.Hunted and alone, Hylas is desperate to find his missing sister.

His quest takes him across the hostile mountains and treacherous seas of Ancient Greece.

His only friend is a girl on the run. His only guide is a wild dolphin.And his murderous enemies are closing in...'Electrifying' - Independent on Sunday'The reader's attention is caught from the first line...spellbinding' - Telegraph'Set to become another children's classic' - Books for Keeps Michelle Paver was born in Malawi in 1960 and moved to England when she was three.

After gaining a degree in biochemistry from Oxford, she became a partner in a City law firm, but gave that up to write full-time.

To research her stories about animals and the distant past, she has travelled in the Arctic, the Mediterranean and Egypt, swum with dolphins and killer whales, and encountered bears, boars and wolves.

She is the author of the internationally bestselling Chronicles of Ancient Darkness, the final book of which won the 2010 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize.