A twelfth birthday takes a very unexpected turn when a girl finds herself at the centre of a plot to save a community from a brutal regime.

A truly inventive, clever and magical story about the power of friendship and the importance of self-belief by debut novelist Nadine Wild-Palmer. On her twelfth birthday Cecilia goes out with her parents and sister to celebrate with a visit to a museum. On their way Cecilia drops the marble that her sister gave her as a present, and running to pick it up she is taken away on an empty underground train into a dark and deep tunnel. The fun family outing becomes a much more serious mission when Cecilia finds that she and her marble have a very important role to play in freeing the inhabitants of the tunnels from the tyrannical rule of the Corvus.

A twelfth birthday takes a very unexpected turn when a girl finds herself at the centre of a plot to save a community from the brutal Corvus rule How do you find your way out of the dark? On her twelfth birthday, the last thing Cecilia expected was to find herself lost in a labyrinth of tunnels beneath London. Afraid, alone, but determined, she sets to work on her escape, and soon realises that perhaps there is a reason she and the mysterious marble her sister gave her have ended up so far from home. Deep in the darkness roam the terrible Corvus, tyrants of the magical realm below. Cecilia's struggle to return to her family becomes a mission of great danger and adventure, as she tries to help her new friends to free themselves and their beautiful, unique world. But will her brave heart be enough to ensure she doesn't stay trapped in the darkness for ever? Nadine Wild-Palmer is a children's author, singer-songwriter and poet born and bred in south west London. You may have heard her on Channel 4 as a continuity announcer or seen her rearranging the books as a children's librarian.