The Solitaire Mystery

Twelve-year-old Hans Thomas and his father set out from Norway on a long drive south to Athens, hoping to find the mother who left them years earlier. Along the way a dwarf hands the boy a magnifying glass, and a baker in a small Alpine village gives him a sweet bun with a tiny hidden book. Read through the glass, that book begins to tell a second story — and it seems to know far more about Hans Thomas than it should.

The hidden book tells of a sailor stranded on an enchanted island where the figures from a pack of playing cards have come to life, and only the Joker sees the island for what it is. Jostein Gaarder, the Norwegian author of Sophie's World, alternates the two stories until they begin to answer each other. First published in Norway in 1990 as Kabalmysteriet, it won the Norwegian Critics' Prize for children's and youth literature that year, and reached English readers in 1996 in Sarah Jane Hails's translation.

What makes it special:
• A story within a story, dealt out like a hand
• Big questions about identity, fate and wonder, through a child's eyes
• A tender father-son road trip across Europe at its heart
• Accessible to teenagers yet rich enough for adult readers

For fans of Sophie's World and novels of ideas, this W&N edition is available from Boipoka.