Description

Nathaniel is a young boy with a gift for magic. He trains with a wizard. He calls up Bartimaeus, a spirit known as a djinn. The spirit expects a small task. But the boy wants revenge. He sends the djinn to steal the Amulet of Samarkand. Simon Lovelace owns it. This cruel wizard craves power and shows no mercy. The theft draws boy and spirit into plots of murder and betrayal.

This tale of magic is for young readers. It starts Jonathan Stroud’s three-book Bartimaeus series. The boy’s teacher treats him badly. Yet the boy has more skill than his teacher. The teacher’s wife, Mrs Underwood, alone shows him kindness. She cannot shield him from her husband. Still, the boy grows very fond of her.

The djinn hates having to serve a boy. He cares little for what the boy wants. He wants to finish the task and reach the Other Place. He hopes to meet his old master, Ptolemy, there. He holds that master in far higher regard than the boy. The pair resent each other and share no trust. This makes their bond tense. The djinn’s dry wit brings humour to this world. Magic, crime and plots for power fill it.

Carmen-Iulia Bourceanu put this edition into words from English. The book won France’s Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire in 2006. It also won the 2006 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature. This award has ties to the University of Oklahoma. In the United States, it earned a further honour. This was a 2004 Boston Globe / Horn Book Honor. It won Britain’s Lancashire Children’s Book Award in 2005.