Ember Spark and the Unicorn's Secret

About Abi Elphinstone

Abi Elphinstone grew up in Scotland where she spent most of her childhood running wild across the moors, hiding in tree houses and building dens in the woods. After being coaxed out of her tree house, she studied English at Bristol University and then worked as an English teacher in Tanzania, Berkshire and London. Abi has written numerous much-loved middle grade novels and picture books and has been shortlisted for multiple awards.

When she's not writing, Abi can be found working for The Lamp Of Lothian Trust and scrambling up Scottish mountains with her husband and three little kids. One day, she hopes to welcome a highland cow called Hagrid to the family...

She is the author of The Dreamsnatcher, The Shadow Keeper and The Night Spinner; a series of fast-paced adventure books for 8-12 year olds which follow Moll, Sid, Alfie and a wildcat, Gryff, as they search for the Amulets of Truth to stop a group of sinister witchdoctors taking over their world. She is also the curator of the anthology Winter Magic. 

Her 2018 book Sky Song was a snow-swept tale of adventure and friendship. The book was a Waterstones Book of the Month and was also shortlisted for the Independent Bookshop Week Book Award and the Sainsbury Children’s Book Award for Fiction as well as being longlisted for the Blue Peter Book Award and nominated for the Carnegie Medal. The Times has praised Abi has ‘a worthy successor to CS Lewis’ and The Guardian described Sky Song as ‘a truly magical tale’. 

Abi’s series The Unmapped Chronicles is an epic and wide-reaching new series of interlinked standalone novels about magical kingdoms which coexist alongside our continents and hold all the magic needed to conjure sunlight, snow, rain and every untold wonder behind the weather for them. Abi released a World Book Day book, Everdark, in March 2019. Everdark is a prequel to The Unmapped Chronicles. 

Abi volunteers for Beanstalk charity, is a patron for the brilliant Grimm & Co and is heavily involved in campaigning for Authors4Oceans. When she's not writing, Abi enjoys speaking in schools and travels the world looking for her next story. Her latest adventures include living with the Kazakh Eagle Hunters in Mongolia and dog-sledging across the Arctic.