The Star of Kazan

Eva Ibbotson was born in Vienna, but spent her early childhood travelling backwards and forwards across Europe between the homes of her father, a scientist, and her mother, a novelist and playwright, who separated when she was three. When the Nazis came to power, her family fed to England and she was sent to boarding school. She planned to become a physiologist, but hated doing experiments on animals, and was rescued from some fierce rabbits by her husband-to-be. She became a writer while bringing up her four children, and her bestselling novels for both adults and children have been published around the world. She lives in Newcastle.

The Star of Kazan
won the Nestlé Silver Award and was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal.

Journey to the River Sea
won the Nestlé Gold Award, was runner-up for the Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award, and was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. Anne Fine, then Children’s Laureate, said of it: ‘Any reader presented with this book will be enriched for life.’

For more information about Eva Ibbotson and her
books visit:
www.bebo.com/evaibbotson
and
www.panmacmillan.com/evaibbotson

Books by Eva Ibbotson

The Dragonfly Pool
The Star of Kazan
Journey to the River Sea
The Beasts of Clawstone Castle
The Great Ghost Rescue
Which Witch?
The Haunting of Hiram
Not Just a Witch
The Secret of Platform 13
Dial a Ghost
Monster Mission

For older readers

A Song for Summer
The Secret Countess
The Morning Gift

Praise for
The Star of Kazan
:

‘Every bit as compelling as . . .
Journey to the River Sea
. An ingeniously plotted story, with a compelling sense of character and place’
The Times

‘Eva Ibbotson creates a marvellous world of rich and poor, kind and unkind, young and old against a background of Viennese convention.
The Star of Kazan
is a heartwarming, old-fashioned adventure . . . as absorbing as Ibbotson’s prize-winning
Journey to the River Sea
’
Julia Eccleshare,
Guardian

‘Eva Ibbotson is one of our most enjoyable writers for the young. She tells stories with humour, warmth and perfect clarity in a way that children follow completely . . . Ibbotson builds her story with cliffhanging chapter endings . . . on the way we fall, not only for the heroine and her friends but for the real city of Vienna and its Lipizzaner horses, big wheel and irresistible pastries. The book, too, is delicious’
Sunday Times
Children’s Book of the Week

‘This is a great big fat engrossing read. It draws you in and won’t let you go until the last page is turned and the last sigh is sighed’
Books for Keeps

‘Eva Ibbotson is writing better than ever . . .
The Star of Kazan
. . . should pick up more prizes’
Independent

‘Fans of Eva’s last novel,
Journey to the River Sea
, will be glad to know she’s back and on top form . . . An amazing adventure that will launch you into a Viennese whirl!’
Sunday Times
(‘Funday Times’)

‘[
The Star of Kazan
] eschews magic . . . Ibbotson excels at describing not only the world of the senses but that of the heart . . . Ibbotson’s genius is for creating people (and animals) whom you instantly recognize and love’
The Times

‘The bookshops are crammed with children’s titles, but where is the quality in all that quantity? Amid the flurries of new titles, what do you choose? This summer the problem is solved. Ibbotson has written a new novel,
The Star of Kazan
’
Dina Rabinovitch,
Guardian

‘A fabulously satisfying read’
Sunday Telegraph

‘This is a solidly traditional piece of story-telling . . . There is more to the book than a good story, expertly told’
Times Educational Supplement

‘This is a beautiful, simply written and enchanting story that will keep you in suspense until the very end. An excellent read’
Publishing News

‘
The Star of Kazan
weighs in at an impressive 380 pages, and that is important because when you are presented with story-telling of this calibre, you simply never want it to end’
Lindsey Fraser,
Bookseller

MACMILLAN CHILDREN’S BOOKS

First published 2004 by Macmillan Children’s Books

This edition published 2008 by Macmillan Children’s Books

This electronic edition published 2008 by Macmillan Children’s Books
a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
20 New Wharf Rd, London N1 9RR
Basingstoke and Oxford
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com

ISBN 978-0-330-47741-3 in Adobe Reader format
ISBN 978-0-330-47740-6 in Adobe Digital Editions format
ISBN 978-0-330-47742-0 in Mobipocket format

Copyright © Eva Ibbotson 2004

The right of Eva Ibbotson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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www.panmacmillan.com
to read more about all our books and to buy them. You will also find features, author interviews and news of any author events, and you can sign up for e-newsletters so that you’re always first to hear about our new releases.

For Rowan

E
llie had gone into the church because of her feet. This is not the best reason for entering a church, but Ellie was plump and middle-aged and her feet were hurting her. They were hurting her badly.

It was a beautiful sunny day in June and Ellie and her friend Sigrid (who was as thin as Ellie was portly) had set out early from Vienna in the little train which took them to the mountains, so that they could climb up to the top of a peak called the Dorfelspitze.

They went to the mountains on the last Sunday of every month, which was their day off, changing their aprons for dirndls and filling their rucksacks with salami sandwiches and slices of plum cake, so that when they got to the top they could admire the view without getting hungry. It was how they refreshed their souls after the hard work they did all week, cleaning and cooking and shopping and scrubbing for the professors who employed them, and who were fussy about how things were done. Ellie was the cook and Sigrid was the housemaid and they had been friends for many years.