A Box of Nothing

When James hid in the Nothing Shop he didn't expect to find anyone there. It was just an empty shop to hide in for a moment. And he didn't expect to find himself buying a box of nothing, the very best quality nothing (the man said),a bit of the original nothing which was there before the universe began. "Not much call for it these days," the man said.)

But from that purchase flowed James's whole adventure on the Dump, his meeting with the odd but friendly creature that called itself )or itselves) the Burra, with the terrible rat-general, and with the alarming gull people, until the final race across the desert to the beginning (or the end) of everything.

Peter Dickinson's new book isn't like anything else, of course. It uses some of the concepts of modern astronomy as magic that would not be out of place in a traditional fairy-tale. It is bursting with ideas, but can easily be read for the story alone, a thrilling adventure, sometimes hilarious, sometimes terryfying, in the weirdest off all weird worlds, just the other side of the street.

Jacket illustration by Ian Newsham