Book 1

Hollow Earth

by John Barrowman and Carole E Barrowman

Published 2 February 2012
Lots of twins have a special connection - being able to finish each other's sentences; sensing what the other is thinking; perhaps even knowing when the other is in trouble or in pain - but for 12-year-old twins, Matt and Emily Calder, the connection is beyond special. Together, the twins have extraordinary powers - they are able to bring art to life, or enter paintings at will. Their abilities are sought by villains trying to access the terrors of Hollow Earth - a place where all the demons, devils and creatures ever imagined lie trapped for eternity. The twins flee with their mother to the security of an island, off the west coast of Scotland, where their grandfather has certain protective powers of his own. But too much is at stake, and the twins aren't safe there either. The villains will stop at nothing to find Hollow Earth and harness the powers within...

Book 2

Bone Quill

by John Barrowman and Carole E Barrowman

Published 6 February 2013

12-year-old twins Matt and Emily Calder are Animare: they can bring art to life and enter paintings at will. They must do everything in their power to prevent a breach in Hollow Earth: a supernatural place that holds all the demons, devils and creatures ever imagined. The Hollow Earth Society are getting closer to finding the key that will release the beasts: an ancient bone quill whose powers can be only be used by a powerful Animare. The quill has been lost for centuries, but important clues to its whereabouts lie somewhere on the island of Era Mina - as does the entrance to Hollow Earth itself.

Matt and Em must find the quill and protect it through their drawings, through certain famous paintings and, ultimately, deep into the mists of time itself. But their lives in the relative safety of Auchinmurn Abbey are thrown into confusion with the arrival of a newcomer who threatens to ruin everything they have worked for. All too soon, Matt makes a fateful decision which forces him to make a terrible choice - save his family, or save the world?


Book 3

The Book of Beasts

by John Barrowman

Published 3 July 2014

'It won't be long now. Death will come soon enough...'

Twelve-year-old twins Matt and Emily Calder may be divided by time, but they are united in their mission to close Hollow Earth before the monsters inside can destroy the world. The key to success lies with their dazzling Animare talents: they can draw things into life and travel in time through art. But there are monsters outside Hollow Earth as well, intent on taking control of the beasts for themselves. And their own father is the worst monster of all...

Even when you travel in time, time has a habit of running out.


All three books of John & Carole E. Barrowman's HOLLOW EARTH trilogy. Book 1: HOLLOW EARTH. Book 2: THE BONE QUILL. Book 3: THE BOOK OF BEASTS.

Long ago, the Order of Era Mina bound all the beasts of myth and legend into the pages of a single tome. They called the prison they had created the Hollow Earth – a nightmare world built to keep our world safe. Over centuries, their Order grew strong: the men and women with the power to bind and animate the magic of this world learned to live in secret among us, watched over by their constant companions, the Guardians. Each Animarus was tasked with the protection of this world. Each Guardian was tasked with the protection of an Animarus. And in time the history of the Order was forgotten, their relics lost, and the Hollow Earth became nothing but a story.

Now, twelve-year-old twins Matt and Emily Calder are about to discover this world for themselves...