The Chess Piece Magician — Douglas Bruton

When Corrie's family returns to Uig Bay on the Isle of Lewis for yet another miserable summer holiday, he has no idea of the incredible adventure that lies ahead. He finds a strange figurine on a windswept beach, which looks very like the ancient chess pieces found there centuries ago ... but this one has a magician's staff.

Corrie makes friends with local girl, Kat, who tells him the island's legends―of a terrible sea serpent who summoned up never-ending winter, and of a powerful magician who finally banished him. When Corrie hears a voice in the night and the strange little figure starts to glow, he finds himself drawn into an incredible battle between good and evil.

Douglas Bruton's gripping first novel tells a fictional fantasy story behind the famed Lewis chessmen, which date from the twelfth century and were found in Uig Bay in the 1830s.

(Ages 8â€"12)