The Riddle of the Frozen Phantom
By (Author) Margaret Mahy
HarperCollins Publishers
HarperCollins Children's Books
19th December 2001
United Kingdom
Primary and Secondary Educational
Fiction
Childrens / Teenage general interest: Adventurers and outlaws
Childrens / Teenage general interest: Discovery and exploration
Childrens / Teenage general interest: Mysteries and the unexplained
Childrens / Teenage fiction: Horror and ghost stories, chillers
Childrens / Teenage general interest: Whales, dolphins and porpoises
Childrens / Teenage fiction: Thrillers / suspense
823.914
Short-listed for New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards: Junior Fiction 2002
Paperback
192
Width 129mm, Height 198mm, Spine 10mm
165g
Sophie Sapwood, daughter of the famous explorer, Bonniface Sapwood, discovers a whalebone pendant hidden at the back of her chest of drawers. At the same time, deep in the frozen wastes of the Antarctic, the ghost of Captain Cathcardo awakens from an ancient sleep, trapped in the Antarctic on his ship, The Riddle. His three cries for "Help" travel through the stratosphere to three different sets of ears - famous explorer Bonniface Sapwood, renowned naturalist Corona Wottley and oily villain Rancid Swarthy - descendant of Escher Black who was first mate on the Riddle. All three parties immediately organise trips to the Antarctic - all with the same goal in mind (solving the mystery of the Riddle) but each with very different intentions.
Margaret Mahy was born in New Zealand and has loved telling stories all her life. She has published well over a hundred titles and won several major prizes and awards, including The Order of New Zealand, for her internationally-acclaimed contribution to children's literature. She has twice won the prestigious Carnegie Medal, (The Haunting, 1982, and The Changeover, 1984). Margaret lives in the South Island of New Zealand, in a house which she partially built herself, overlooking Governor's Bay.