"Slowly, incredibly slowly, the magic began to fall. It fell like the snow that comes silently in the night…"

Ataman is the story of a girl and her dog's epic travels and adventures as they seek to rescue their best friend. It is about friendship, loyalty and magic on the one hand, and treachery, greed and lurking danger on the other — deep within a vast and magical empire.

Set just following the reign of Catherine the Great, the Snow Empress, this book captures the ancient magic and atmosphere of rural Russia. Fans of magical sagas will be hooked by this story of intrigue, power and 'the Dark Arts' in an unforgettable setting of real-life ice and fire. 

With characters such as the Record Keeper bringing to mind the charisma and mystery of Skulduggery Pleasant and Gormenghast's Sepulchrave, and with the author's own sketches at the start of each chapter, Ataman has the makings of a classic children's novel. 

"The bishop smiled. “We have seen many that were called wizards dragged unwillingly through our town. But the word ‘wizard’ has no particular meaning child. It is not the title of any particular craft or rank. Practitioners of the arcane arts go by many different names. This one here is an ‘alchemist’, this one here is a ‘Volshebnik’.” He indicated the two monks standing beside him...If the Tsar wants to make wizarding illegal, then perhaps he needs to be a little more specific on what it is that he is outlawing…” There was a mischievous sparkle in the bishop’s eyes."