The Grandest Bookshop in the World

Pearl and Vally Cole live in a bookshop. And not just any bookshop. In 1893, Cole’s Book Arcade in Melbourne is the grandest bookshop in the world, brimming with every curiosity imaginable. Each day brings fresh delights for the siblings - voice-changing sweets, talking parrots, a new story written just for them by their eccentric father. When Pearl and Vally learn that Pa has risked the Arcade - and himself - in a shocking deal with the mysterious Obscurosmith, the siblings hatch a plan.

Twelve-year-old Billy Pyke has a talent for sorting things out, whether it's his chaotic family home or the busy bookstall at Paddy's Market. In 1871, the market is the loud, smelly, marvellous heart of Melbourne, and Billy is delighted to work at the bookstall there for the eccentric Mr Cole. When his new friend, Kezia, warns him of a sinister magician called the Obscurosmith, Billy can't believe her stories of magical deals gone horribly wrong—until he sees them happening.

It's 1895, Melbourne is in crisis, and Pearl and Vally Cole's father has suggested the unthinkable – it might be time to close the grandest bookshop in the world. When a ghostly visitor offers Pearl magic that could save her home, she seizes her chance. But her new friend is not what he seems, and the unstoppable magic in the palm of her hand comes at a terrible cost. Vally can see just one way to save Pearl before she is lost forever. He must call upon the sinister magician who nearly destroyed the Cole family two years ago. But the Obscurosmith only performs the impossible for a price ...