The Nowhere Emporium

When Daniel flees from the bully at his children’s home and into the mysterious shop that seems to have only just appeared on a Glasgow street, he embarks on a life of imagination and magic, which carries him through time and space and into the heart of a deadly rivalry. There are two stories here: one is Daniel’s, and the other is that of Lucien Silver, the enigmatic owner of The Nowhere Emporium, the secrets of whose amazing rooms are contained in the Book of Wonders that he carries with him. Their two stories eventually collide in a breathless climax but not before Silver himself disappears and the Emporium is placed in deadly danger. Despite one or two contemporary references, to the ‘Back to the Future’ film franchise for instance, this is an imaginative world that bears almost no relation to the world that its readers live in, and more to the fantasy novelists whose spirits the publishers invoke on the back of the proof copy: Pullman, Funke and Gaiman (and, indeed, Rowling). But, if that kind of comparison might lead you to expect a more superior kind of magic than Ross McKenzie conjures here, this is still a cracking good story whose magical elements are convincingly elaborated, whose characters are clearly drawn, and that keeps you turning the page. If teachers still read books to their class, as they should, this is one that will have top juniors on the edge of their seats.