Sophie must play the role of the Clockwork Queen in order to free her chess grandmaster father in this page-turning historical adventure, inspired by a true story.
Chess prodigy Sophie Peshka inherited her love of the game from her grandmaster father. But now that he has been imprisoned in the dungeons of the Winter Palace in St Petersburg by powerful Empress Catherine the Great, Sophie must use all her strategic skill and cunning to help him escape.
Part of Sophie’s plan involves an incredible chess-playing automaton called the Clockwork Queen, but will the Queen be able to outwit the Empress in a game where the stakes are a matter of life and death?
Particularly suitable for readers aged 9+ with a reading age of 8.
See More Historical fiction
See More General fiction
See More Family & home stories
See More Crime & mystery fiction
Peter grew up in South London in a rambling Victorian house with three cats, two dogs, one sister, an antique-dealer dad and an artist mum. He is a BAFTA-winning animator, as well as a writer and film-maker. Like Lily and Robert, he loves adventures and reading penny dreadfuls, but wishes dearly that he had a mechanical fox called Malkin. Skycircus is his th
More about Peter Bunzl
