Part of Series
Die Alchimistin Aura Institoris verbringt ihre Zeit mit Reisen durch die altehrwürdigen Bibliotheken Europas, als eine Hiobsbotschaft sei zurück in das Schloss ihrer Ahnen ruft. Auf der Spur skrupelloser Verschwörer gelangt sie von dort aus über Paris nach Prag, jener rätselhaften Stadt mit ihren Traditionen von Alchimie und Mystik. Doch Prag ist in der Hand von Geisterbeschwörern und Betrügern, die mit der Inszenierung magischer Tricks ihr Geld verdienen. Aura stößt auf die mächtige Familie Octavian, deren verschrobene Mitglieder dunkle Geheimnisse hüten, sowie auf alte Bekannte, die ihr neue Rätsel aufgeben. Zudem verschwinden Mädchen in den Straßen der Altstadt, und Aura wird unangenehm an die Verbrechen ihres toten Vaters erinnert. Derweil entdeckt Gillian in Venedig die Fährte eines vergessenen Feindes. Über Wein reist auch er nach Prag, wo Aura in den Bann der schönen Sophia Luminique geraten ist. In den düsteren Gassen und barocken Palästen der Stadt beginnt ein Wettlauf gegen die Zeit – der Preis, das wird Aura bald klar, ist das Leben all jener, die sie liebt.
Author
With millions of books sold worldwide, Kai Meyer is one of Germany's most successful authors. His novels have been translated into 27 languages including English, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Russian and Chinese. Kai Meyer was born in 1969 in northern Germany. He began college at the University of Bochum, Germany, where he studied film, theatre, and philosophy. After a year, he dropped out to work for a newspaper as a trainee journalist, followed by two years as a staff journalist. Kai wrote his first novel in his early 20s, and it was published when he was just 24 years old. He has been a full-time novelist since 1995. To date, Kai has written nearly 50 books – some for adults, some for teenagers. Kai’s books are mostly historical with strong fantastical overtones. There are over 1.5 million Kai Meyer books in print in Germany, and he is quickly gaining popularity in other countries as well: THE WATER MIRROR went into its third US printing before it was even delivered to bookstores, and his young adult dark fantasy series SIEBEN SIEGEL is a substantial hit in Japan. The British edition of THE FLOWING QUEEN / THE WATER MIRROR won the 2007 Marsh Award for Best Children´s Book in Translation. In 2007 his historical novel DAS GELÜBDE (The Vow) was turned into a movie by celebrated German director Dominik Graf. SIEBEN SIEGEL is set to be filmed in 2008, other books are optioned. Kai has also written screenplays, two of which have been made into TV movies. He is the author of a hardcover comic book, PANDORAMICUM, and is one of the creators of the fantasy role-playing game ENGEL (US edition by White Wolf). Kai Meyer lives in Westphalia near the Rhine in Germany.
