Simon Jones

Thirteen-year-old Anna, an orphan, lives inside the formidable walls of Constantinople in a house of women who make their living embroidering the robes of priests. Restless, insatiably curious, Anna learns to read, and in this ancient city, famous for its libraries, she finds a book, the story of Aethon, who longs to be turned into a bird so that he can fly to a utopian paradise in the sky. This she reads to her ailing sister as the walls of the only...

Count Harken is back to take his revenge on the Red King's heirs, starting with Charlie Bone's family! Charlie's ancestor has been kidnapped and imprisoned in the dark, forbidding land of Badlock, and it's up to Charlie to save him. Traveling through a painting to the terrifying countryside, Charlie and his best friend's dog, Runner Bean, take up the quest.

In 1497 a Dominican inquisitor is sent to Milan to supervise the final phase of the painting of The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci. Never a conformist, da Vinci creates a masterpiece that raises questions that have yet to be answered. Unlike his contemporaries, he does not hold strictly to the religious doctrine of the scriptures, but adds touches advocated by a repressed heritical sect. Could da Vinci be a member of the secret society?