Truth may perhaps come to the price of a pearl, that showeth best by day; but it will not rise to the price of a diamond or a carbuncle, that showeth best in varied lights. The mixture of a lie doth ever add pleasure-' Francis BaconSet in a highly realistic dystopic future, where the lowlands of Britain are flooded, this beautifully-realised novel explores a world where archaeology is banned for fear of social unrest. One bleak morning, a storm across the North Sea unveils a human skull, which is to precipitate a series of events that changes the lives of those involved. And it is the Inglish, a remnant tribe eking out an existence on the edge of Europe, who will be affected the most. This is a compelling vision of England as it might be in the not-so-distant future.

Jan Mark was born in Welwyn, Herts in 1943. She grew up in Ashford, Kent and attended Canterbury College of Art. She taught in a secondary school in Gravesend for six years, before becoming a full-time writer. Her book THEY DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY THERE was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Award and the Whitbread Children's Award. She has won the Carnegie Medal twice, for THUNDER AND LIGHTNINGS and HANDLES.