Jamila Gavin,
The Blood Stone.
Egmont, 2003.
ISBN: 1 4052 0927 5

Fillipo, a young Italian boy, sets out on a long and dangerous journey from Venice when he is told that his long-lost father is being held hostage in a fortress in the mountains beyond Hindustan. The ransome required for his father's release is the Ocean of the Moon, a priceless diamond, but will this precious stone of incomparable beauty bring happiness, or only sorrow and death? The hiding place selected for Fillipo to carry it - inside his skull! - is ingenious, but it bestows on him frightening and magical powers of perception. The Blood Stone is based on the real story of Geronimo Veronese, reputedly the designer of the Taj Mahal and one of Venice's most distinguished jewellers; it is a complex and dazzling imaginative work of fiction by an award-winning author.

RA 12+/IL 12-14
Reviewed by John Escott
Spring 2004