‘There was Tolkien, there is Pullman and now there is Katherine Rundell. Wondrous invention, marvellous writing.’ – Michael Morpurgo

There’s a place where all the wildest stories began … The first novel in the award winning and globally best-selling Impossible Creatures series is the story of two children's epic adventure to transform the world. This edition includes The Centaur’s Spectacles bonus short story.

Read the stunning sequel to Impossible Creatures: book 2, The Poisoned King, is OUT NOW!

Christopher is stunned when he discovers a Way-Between from our world to the Archipelago: a cluster of magical islands where all the creatures of myth still live and breed and thrive in their thousands. There he meets Mal: a girl from the islands, who is in possession of a flying coat and a baby griffin, and who is being pursued by a killer. Together they embark on an urgent quest to discover why the creatures are suddenly perishing, voyaging across the wild splendour of the Archipelago, where sphinxes hold secrets and centaurs do murder, in a bid to save both the islands and the world beyond them from a rising evil – before it's too late.

*Please note the book cover you receive may be different from the one that is shown

* THE TIMES CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE WEEK * THE INDEPENDENT CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE WEEK * THE DAILY TELEGRAPH CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE WEEK * SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER IN SEPTEMBER 2023

* BRITISH BOOK AWARDS CHILDREN’S FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR * WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR WINNER * BOOKS ARE MY BAG READERS' AWARD WINNER * FOYLES CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE YEAR * SHORTLISTED FOR AMAZON KIDS AND YA BOOK OF THE YEAR

‘Full of adventures, wonderful side characters, new lands and so many fantastic creatures. I heartily recommend it to readers of all ages’ – Rick Riordan

‘A book stuffed full of fantastical, magical delight, and a world of richly imagined wonder’ – Cressida Cowell

‘Rundell’s first foray into fantasy is both a deft, rich homage to the greats of children’s literature and an absorbing, profoundly poignant quest story for those aged 9+ – quite possibly her best yet’ – The Guardian

‘A marvellous, imaginative fantasy told with great style and sparkle – a book to race through in a day and keep for a lifetime’ – Jacqueline Wilson

‘The world of this new book is so intriguing and so well put together that I couldn’t resist it. Readers who already know her books will seize this with delight, and new readers will love it and demand all her others at once’ - Philip Pullman
‘I love Katherine Rundell and everything she writes. Her books are treasure troves of glittering wisdom and breath-taking plots; her characters leap off the page, singular, passionate, and satisfyingly complex. I defy anyone to not lose their heart to her stories.’ - Maggie O'Farrell, author of Hamnet
‘A masterpiece to rival Tolkien and Pullman’ – The Daily Telegraph

‘Fantastically exuberant, wildly imaginative, impossibly brilliant. Rundell’s best, which is something to be marvelled at’ – Kiran Millwood Hargrave

‘Between the covers of Impossible Creatures is a world as enchanting, as perilous, as richly imagined as Narnia or Middle Earth’ – Frank Cottrell-Boyce

‘Rundell's book packs a punch with imagination and creativity in its purest form. She has created a story with potential to be adored by fantasy lovers for years to come’ – The Independent

‘With a delightful cast of characters, breathless adventure, and an abundance of myth and magic, Impossible Creatures offers the very best of fantasy’ – Aisha Bushby

‘A fierce, fantastic, wild-hearted adventure that roars and bristles with imagination. I devoured it like a hungry dragon’ – Sam Sedgman

‘A rare and remarkable feat of glittering imagination from a truly masterful storyteller’ – Catherine Doyle

‘The action is gripping. Every sentence sparkles. You can feel the flutter of griffin feathers and the menace of strange poisonous shrews. Magnificent’ – The Times

‘Surely the next classic’ – The I

Discover how scenes of daily life and delicate dabs of color shocked the art world establishment.
In this TASCHEN Basic Art introduction to Impressionism, we explore the artists, subjects, and techniques that first brought the easel out of the studio and shifted artistic attention from history, religion, or portraiture to the evanescent ebb and flow of modern life.

As we tour the theaters, bars, and parks of Paris and beyond, we take in the movement’s radical innovations in style and subject, from the principle of plein air painting to the rapid, broken brushwork that allowed the Impressionists to emphasize spontaneity, movement, and the changing qualities of light. We take a close look at their unusual new perspectives and their fresh palette of pure, unblended colors, including many vividly bright shades that brought a whole new level of chromatic intensity to the canvas.

Along the way, we recognize Impressionism’s established greats, such as Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, and Camille Pissarro, as well as many associated artists worthy of closer attention, including Marie Bracquemond, Medardo Rosso, and Fritz von Uhde.

It was a dappled and daubed harbor scene that gave Impressionism its name. When Impression, Sunrise by Claude Monet was exhibited in April 1874, critics seized upon the work’s title and its loose stylistic rendering of light and motion upon water to deride this new, impressionistic tendency in art.

As with many seminal art movements, the critics got their comeuppance. Today, Impressionism is a close contender for the world’s favorite period of painting. With blockbuster exhibitions, record-breaking auction prices, and packed museums, the works once dismissed as unfinished or imprecise are now beloved for their atmospheric evocation of time and place, as well as the stylistic flair of rapid brushstrokes upon canvas.

Despite its popularity and a whole host of publications, many areas and artists of Impressionism remain inadequately researched. This TASCHEN book fills the gap, raising the profile of unjustly neglected pioneers such as Berthe Morisot, Lucien Pissarro, and Gustave Caillebotte, while exploring the characteristics of Impressionism, from painting en plein air to vivid color contrasts, not only in the movement’s native France but also across the rest of Europe and North America.