Nobody in Preston could remember when the watertower was built, or who had built it, but there it stood on Shooter's Hill -- its iron legs rusted, its egg-shaped tank warped and leaking -- casting a long dark shadow across the valley, across Preston itself.

For Tristan, the city dump was a treasure trove full of mystery. He would take things apart to see how they worked. Then he found the box, filled with lenses, polished glass and a microscope, and what he saw was like nothing he had seen before.

Martin is the runt of his family. Without a mother to protect him, his overbearing father and brothers reject him. Aided by the self-sacrifice of loving friends, Martin finds the courage to fight for personal fulfilment.

An astonishingly original novel for adults from the multi award-winning children's author, Gary Crew 'I lived many lives beneath that piano ...I heard ten thousand stories in that space. there I was privileged to observe, to gather - and not only gather, to concentrate within myself - so much that is usually denied a child of my age. As a result, I have, you might say, grown.' So says Augustus trump - a dwarf destined to be a circus freak. Cursed by nature as he is, Augustus is nevertheless blessed with a determination to survive, and more than survive, to grow. this growth, both in stature and in spirit, is brought about by a second blessing - his divine voice: an instrument so sublime that even the stars pay heed. Because no-one knows better the agonies, the violence and the love that inform the poetic than Augustus trump: dwarf, protege, man. tHE ARCHItECtURE OF SONG is a truly magical, unique novel of beauty, imagination and song, with a cast of dark, surprising characters who will enchant and delight you, just as the songs of Augustus trump enchant and transform them.

Nobody in Preston could remember when the watertower was built, or who had built it, but there it stood . . . casting a long, dark shadow across the valley, across Preston itself. The Children's Book Council of Australia 1995 Picture Book of the Year '. . . a genuinely eerie picture book.' Kirkus Reviews