Book excerpt: A twisted take on Narnia, this warmhearted, dryly comic novel from the award-winning author of the Peculiar Crimes Unit series starring Bryant & May transports readers to the last poignant moment of freedom before growing up. Kay Goodwin is a sixteen-year-old boy with a smart mouth and too much imagination, trapped in the most dismal place in England at the worst possible time: the early seventies. Marooned in the rundown seaside resort of Cole Bay, with its crumbling pier and grumbling pensioners, Kay experiences each day as a horrible comedy of errors—until he discovers a faraway land with characters who are impossibly exotic yet strangely familiar. In the kingdom of Calabash, he can have everything he’s ever wanted from life. There’s only one small problem: Calabash doesn’t technically exist. In a country that’s still hungover from the sixties, Kay finds it all too easy to retreat from reality. But he’s prepared to risk everything to find out what makes him different, what his life really holds, and what happens to those who believe in the impossible. Look for Christopher Fowler’s fantasy and horror classics, now available as ebooks: CALABASH | DISTURBIA | PSYCHOVILLE | RED GLOVES | ROOFWORLD | SPANKY