Dangerous adventures continue for the djinni Bartimaeus and his master, seventeen-year-old Nathaniel, a powerful magician who is serving as England's minister of information.
An English girl, a Polish refugee, and a displaced boy from the Orient explore an island-strewn river flowing past the ancient manor house of Green Knowe.
The inhabitants of Green Knowe become involved with black magic when a modern-day witch attempts to find books of witchcraft supposedly hidden in the old house by a mad seventeenth-century alchemist.
