From Britain's best-loved children's author, Michael Morpurgo and illustrator Emma Chichester Clark (author of Plumdog).The Best of Times is an uplifting Christmas story that plays on every last heart-string

A story can bring love and laughter, sorrow and tears. But to save a life . . . that will require the greatest story of all. When the Prince and the Princess marry, joy rings out across the land. But all too soon it fades away and a shadow hangs over the royal palace. As Christmas approaches, Prince Frederico must find a way to warm his new bride's aching heart.

A heart-warming Christmas adventure, that all the family can share. The perfect combination of magic, adventure and Christmas cheer - and makes an ideal festive stocking filler for kids aged 5 and up. Look out for Michael's other Christmas classics The Goose is Getting Fat, Mimi and the Mountain Dragon, The Best Christmas Present in the World and On Angel Wings.

Michael Morpurgo is the master storyteller of Kensuke's Kingdom, An Eagle in the Snow, Listen to the Moon, Shadow, and An Elephant in the Garden. Michael has written more than a hundred books and won the Whitbread Award, the Smarties Award, the Circle of Gold Award, the Children's Book Award and has been short-listed for the Carnegie Medal four times.

Emma Chichester Clark is one of the country's top children's books illustrators, and is a past winner of the Mother Goose award. She has been nominated for the Kate Greenaway medal (for I Love You, Blue Kangaroo!), and shortlisted for the Kurt Maschler award twice. She has also won the Premio Grizane Cavour, a prestigious literary award in Italy. She studied at the Chelsea School of Art and the Royal College, where she was taught by Quentin Blake.