The Screaming Staircase

Jean Esch, born in 1962, is a French literary translator working from English, with a graduate degree in English studies. Over a four-decade career he has become one of France's leading translators of crime fiction and thrillers, translating authors including Michael Connelly, Patricia Cornwell, George Pelecanos, and Donald Westlake, as well as Robert Muchamore's Cherub series. He is best known as the principal French translator of Philip Pullman, rendering the His Dark Materials trilogy and the...

Jonathan Anthony Stroud (born 27 October 1970) is a British writer of fantasy fiction, best known for the Bartimaeus young adult sequence and Lockwood & Co. children's series. His books are typically set in an alternative history London with fantasy elements, and have received note for his satire, and use of magic to reflect themes of class struggle. The Bartimaeus sequence is the recipient of the Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire and Mythopoeic Fantasy Awards. Stroud's works have also been featured on...