Sebastian Darke has the world on his narrow shoulders. The son of a human father and an elvish mother, he is desperately trying to become the family breadwinner and has taken on his late father's job - celebrated jester, Prince of Fools. Trouble is, Sebastian can't tell a joke to save his life. Dressed in his father's clothes and accompanied by his talking (and endlessly complaining) buffalo, Max, he sets off for the fabled city of Keladon, where he hopes to be appointed court jester to King Septimus. On the way he encounters a tiny but powerful warrior called Cornelius; the beautiful Princess Kerin; blood-thirsty Brigands and enough perils to make him wonder why he ever decided to leave home. This is a hilarious and swashbuckling adventure!
Philip Caveney was born in North Wales in 1951 and now lives in Edinburgh.
His first novel, The Sins of Rachel Ellis was published in 1977 and he produced a series of adult thrillers over the following decades. His first novel for younger readers, Sebastian Darke: Prince of Fools was released in 2007 and was published all around the world. Since then, he has concentrated on writing exclusively for younger readers.
He also writes under the pseudonym Danny Weston. Danny's debut novel The Piper won the Scottish Children’s Book Award in 2016 and in 2018, The Haunting of Jessop Rise was shortlisted for the Scottish Teenage Book prize and nominated for a Carnegie Medal.
