The Lion Tamer's Daughter And Other Stories

Four powerful stories of adventure and imagination—in this world and beyond

When Keith’s father dies, his mom sells their house and takes Keith with her to live in Scotland. He misses his dad and his home, but most of all he misses Melly, a girl whose father is a lion tamer, and who seemed to come from another world. Keith is in a park in Edinburgh when he sees a girl who looks exactly like Melly, and whose father once worked for the circus, taming lions. To save his best friend’s life, Keith embarks on a perilous quest to untangle the mystery of Melly’s doppelgänger.

In these four tales, Peter Dickinson writes with clarity and wit about young people in extraordinary situations, characters whose adventures take place across space, time, and the boundaries of their souls.

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.