The Calling

A boy wakes up on a train to Edinburgh.He is shocked to discover that no idea who he is or how he came to be on the train - and once off it, he finds himself immersed in the chaos of the Edinburgh Fringe. After a day of wandering the crowded streets, he falls asleep and is woken by the sound of bells tolling midnight - only to discover that is the night of The Calling - a magical yearly event when all the statues of the city come alive. He is the only human ever to witness it. He quickly makes a couple of allies - the Colonel, the bronze cavalryman of the Scots Grey's monument, and the intrepid explorer David Livingstone. They christen the boy 'Ed Fest' and take him to Parliament Square to meet Charles II, the king of the statues, who isn't particularly fond of 'Softies' (humans).He assigns Sherlock Holmes to investigate the boy's case, to discover his real identity and to get back to his home and family. But as the bronze detective begins to decipher the clues, he discovers that 'Ed' is on the run from a sequence of terrible events; ones that could threaten his very existence. The Calling is a magical story set during Edinburgh's most exciting event - and nearly all of its characters can be observed, standing on plinths in the heart of the city, waiting for next year's Calling.

Auteur

Philip's first novel was published in 1977. Since then, he has published many novels for adults and since 2007, a series of children's books that have sold all over the world, the Sebastien Darke series and another well-received series -The Alec Devlin Mysteries. He is also the author of The Crow Boy Trilogy - spooky tales set in Edinburgh.Philip was born in North Wales in 1951. The son of an RAF officer, he spent much of his childhood travelling the length and breadth of Britain and spent several years in Malaysia and Singapore. He attended Kelsterton College Of Art in North Wales where he obtained a diploma in Graphic Design. After leaving college, he worked extensively in theatre, both in London and Wales, and wrote the lyrics for rock adaptations of The Workhouse Donkey and Oscar Wilde's Salome. In 2016 Philip won the Scottish Children's Book Award writing under the name Danny Weston.