The Hippo-Chronos - Matt Ritson

In the picturesque seaside village of Tynemouth, on the north-east coast of England,?Roman Wall country, 14 year old schoolboy Alex struggles to come to terms with the first anniversary of the disappearance of his archaeologist dad.When Alex, his enigmatic dog Boris and his best mate Conna meet up with the new girls in school, Maddie and Bex, they witness a bizarre explosion at his reclusive neighbour Tom's house. They are first on the scene and discover him lying hurt beside a strange mechanical sculpture, The Hippo-Chronos. Urgently, the dazed old Greek confronts Alex with a fantastic story which shocks the normally level-headed boy to the core: his father is not only alive and well, but trapped in Alexandria - in 48 BC!Over a period of days, the four listen while Tom tries to convince them of how the design and development of an ancient time-machine was entirely possible in the Great Library of Alexandria, just before it mysteriously burned to the ground. Is Tom going senile? Is there another more logical explanation to Alex's dad's disappearance? Or, could the whole intriguing tale somehow, just possibly be true after all? The Hippo-Chronos is a 2,000 year old mystery adventure which opens up a whole ancient, yet rational world for readers aged 14 and over. It is not a stuffy history lecture, but a bittersweet tale and very human adventure story of both modern and ancient youth. The story will be concluded in The Hippo-Tempus AKA The Alexandria Key.