The House With a Clock in Its Walls

The American classic - soon to be a major motion picture from Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, starring Cate Blanchett, Jack Black and Kyle MacLachlan

Lewis Barnavelt doesn't have time on his side...

When Lewis Barnavelt, an orphan, comes to stay with his uncle Jonathan, he expects to meet an ordinary person. But he is wrong. Uncle Jonathan and his next-door neighbour, Mrs Zimmermann, are both witches! Lewis couldn't be happier. What's not to like about seeing his uncle practise spells and eating Mrs Zimmermann's delicious cookies?

At first, watching magic is enough. Then Lewis experiments with magic himself and unknowingly resurrects the former owner of the house: a woman named Selenna Izard. It seems that evil Selenna and her husband built a timepiece into the walls - a clock that could obliterate humankind.

As the clock can be heard ticking away in the house all the time, sometimes louder, sometimes quieter, sometimes faster, sometimes slower, it is up to the Barnavelts to find where it is hidden in the walls - and stop it. A true race against time...

About the Author

John Bellairs (1938-1991) was an award-winning American author of many gothic mystery novels for children and young adults, including The House with a Clock in Its Walls, which received both the New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year Award and the American Library Association Children's Books of International Interest Award, The Lamp from the Warlock's Tomb, which won the Edgar Award and The Specter from the Magician's Museum, which won the New York Public Library 'Best Books for the Teen Age' Award.