FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE'She's one of the most important and interesting children's fiction writers of the last fifty years' NEIL GAIMAN'What a thrill to discover this gem from the witty and endlessly inventive Joan Aiken' CHRIS RIDDELL'She is one of the writers I admire most in the world' KATHERINE RUNDELL'She was a literary treasure, and her books will continue to delight for years to come' PHILIP PULLMAN'I wish we'll have two children called Mark and Harriet. And I hope lots of interesting and unusual things will happen to them.

It would be nice if they had a fairy godmother, for instance. And a phoenix or something out of the ordinary for a pet.

We could have a special day for interesting and unusual things to happen - say, Mondays.

But not always Mondays, and not only Mondays, or that would get a bit dull'As a result of their mother's honeymoon wish, Mark and Harriet Armitage have a fairy godmother, a pet unicorn and are prepared for anything life can throw at them (especially, but not always, on a Monday): hatching griffins in the airing cupboard, Latin lessons with a ghost, furious Furies on the doorstep and an enchanted garden locked inside a cereal packet.

Life with the Armitages can be magical, funny, terrifying - but never, ever dull. 'A delightful summary of one side of Aiken's talent: whimsical, funny, a series of brilliantly imaginative ideas stitched together with dream logic . . . It is the mixture of irrepressible gaiety and invention with the tragic that makes Aiken one of the great children's authors . . . impossible to calculate the number of people who have enjoyed her books - who have had some magic injected into the mundane' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH