Paul Biegel was one of Europe’s most acclaimed and best-loved storytellers, and the author of more than fifty books for children. Born in the Netherlands in 1926, he studied law but worked as a comic-strip writer before writing his first novel, The Golden Guitar, in 1960. He wrote at a rate of almost a book year for nearly forty years, producing timeless fantastical tales of dwarves, princesses, witches, robbers and talking animals. The Gardens of Dorr was first published in 1969 and is considered by many to be Biegel’s greatest achievement. The King of the Copper Mountains and The Little Captain are also available from Pushkin Children’s Books.