Oracle : ancient Greece, an acrobat brother and a sister with the gift of truth

Jackie French explores a distant and fascinating world, where the future is not always as it seems, and the king's displeasure means death. Ages 10 - 14 After Nikko and thetis are taken from their village, their amazing acrobatic skills save them from slavery and make them the focus of the Mycenaean court. the courtiers are in awe of them; the King is enchanted. But thetis may destroy them both when she tells the King a truth about his future that he doesn't want to hear. Nikko and the daring horse dancer Euridce must travel across Greece to find his sister again - and the extraordinary future that awaits them all - in Delphi. Can one young girl change history? Jackie French waves history, myth and fantasy together into one enthralling tale of horse dancers, earthquakes and tsunamis, as well as love and courage, from beyond recorded time. Ages 10-14 Nikko lives in a small farming village in Greece near the stronghold of Mycenae in 1200 BC. When his sister Thetis is born, Nikko rescues her from the hillside where she has been abandoned, setting off an unforeseen chain of events. Thetis survives the trauma of her birth but is rendered mute until the age of five, when the gift of speech is given to her; but she can only tell the truth, which soon proves to be a double-edged sword After Nikko and Thetis are taken from their village, their acrobatic skills save them from slavery and make them the focus of the Mycenaean court. The courtiers are in awe of them; the King is enchanted. But Thetis may destroy them both when she tells the King a truth about his future that he doesn't want to hear. Suggested level: intermediate, junior secondary