To save a country, a girl and her grandfather must learn what it means to be a hero The greatest hero in the history of Varina was baptized in a cave. Every schoolchild knows the story. His parents were on their way to the city when a storm drove them to take shelter in the mountainside, along with a priest, a bandit, and a scholar. When the storm did not abate, they asked the priest to give their child a name, and he christened the boy Restaur Vax. The boy would grow to be a warrior, a scholar, and a man of god, and his name would lead an oppressed people to independence for the first time. Alas, that liberty would not survive. Generations later, Vax's oldest living descendant is in London, teaching the language of Varina to his inquisitive young granddaughter. When his homeland is torn apart once more by war, calls come for this man to take up the mantle of the Vax name-and become a hero for a new age. This ebook features an illustrated personal history of Peter Dickinson including rare images from the author's collection. "Dickinson's spine-tingling, heart-stopping new work provides a glimpse of the elusive, unsettling and highly personal truths that often lurk behind terse political headlines." -Publishers Weekly "Beautifully told." -TES "Riveting." -The Guardian Peter Dickinson was born in Africa but raised and educated in England. From 1952 to 1969 he was on the editorial staff of Punch, and since then has earned his living writing fiction of various kinds for children and adults. His books have been published in several languages throughout the world. The recipient of many awards, Dickinson has been shortlisted nine times for the prestigious Carnegie Medal for children's literature and was the first author to win it twice. The author of twenty-one crime and mystery novels for adults, Dickinson was also the first to win the Gold Dagger of the Crime Writers' Association for two books running: The Glass-Sided Ants' Nest (1968) and The Old English Peepshow (1969). A collection of Dickinson's poetry, The Weir, was published in 2007. His latest book, In the Palace of the Khans, was published in 2012 and was nominated for the Carnegie Medal. Dickinson has served as chairman of the Society of Authors and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2009 for services to literature.