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After his amazing adventures in The Divide, Felix is once again living quietly with his parents in the real world. But not for long.

Snakeweed is on the loose! The villainous japegrin, who followed Felix home, has failed to set up his devious spell-potions business. Now, he wants to go back across the Divide – and he’s come for the enchanted formula hidden in Felix’s notebook. Snakeweed’s visit brings disaster when he turns Felix’s parents to stone. Worse, the spell seems to be spreading like a sinister magical virus.  

To find the counter-charm, Felix must return to the back-to-front world he discovered last summer. But when he gets there, he discovers it horribly changed, and his extraordinary friends in a terrible fix. Can he save BOTH worlds in time? Was he really cured before? Can he outwit the dreadful Snakeweed, again?

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'… delightful, funny, but also gently wise …' THE TIMES

'… sometimes funny, sometimes moving, always captivating: a real winner.' BOOKS FOR KEEPS

‘I’ll be perfectly all right,’ said Felix, trying to keep his temper. ‘A week’s pony-trekking isn’t going to kill me.’

            His mother looked upset.

            ‘Wrong phrase,’ said Felix. ‘Sorry.’

            ‘We mustn’t wrap him up in cotton wool any more,’ said his father. ‘It’s not as if he can’t ride. I’ve never known anyone learn so fast.’

            Felix smiled to himself. His lessons at the local stables had been more of a refresher course – he’d learned to ride the previous summer, and his teacher had been a unicorn in a back to front world where mythical beasts were real, and he had been the legend.

            ‘It’s just habit,’ said Felix’s mother. ‘Thirteen years of watching and waiting for him to … to … you know. And then a complete cure, and a real future. I still can’t believe it.’

            ‘Even after last week’s check-up? They said he was one of the healthiest kids they’d ever seen. Come on, the boy needs something exciting to do during his summer holidays.’

            A ring at the doorbell interrupted the conversation, and Felix’s mother went to answer it. ‘She’ll come round,’ said his father. ‘She was all right about the rock-climbing, wasn’t she?’

            ‘In the end,’ said Felix. ‘But I’m fourteen. She still treats me as though I’m six.’

            Felix heard the front door close, and people talking in the hall. He listened harder, although he could only make out the occasional word. There was something horribly familiar about the voices. The living room door opened, and Felix felt as though someone had kicked him in the stomach.

            ‘Hello, Felix,’ said Snakeweed.