The new Castaways novel comes alive-Redwall fashion-with a magnificent romp on the sea, and another in the robber-filled mountains of Spain! Ben and Ned, the boy and dog who were sent on an angel's errand in Castaways of the Flying Dutchman, find themselves on board a Frenchman's pirate ship, pursued by not one but two ships-an English privateer and a Spanish buccaneer. They finally escape into the Pyrenees, only to stumble into an even more challenging adventure that takes them into very heart of the mountains, where they-and their new companions, a painter and a gypsy girl-must face the most evil robber of them all: the legendary Maguda Razan.

This is Jacques at his swashbuckling best. His editor says: This is as good as it gets-as good as Redwall!