Dreamstalkers: The Night Train: Dreamstalkers, Book 1

by Sarah Driver

The first novel in a spellbinding new fantasy adventure series from the author of The Huntress trilogy. Perfect for readers 8-12 and fans of Philip Pullman, Abi Elphinstone and Katherine Rundell.

Everything changed the day the dreams disappeared… and the nightmares came.

Twelve-year-old Bea lives with her mother Ula and her owl Pip in a cottage on the wild moors. Since the day the dreams disappeared, and an affliction of nightmares began sweeping across the lands, everyone is leaving and their settlement is being abandoned. But when Ula grows sick with the affliction, she won’t leave – and she’s keeping a secret from Bea.

Just as Bea begins to despair, the mysterious Night Train steams across the moors, bringing a stranger who offers her the chance to save her mother. Bea is flung into a faraway adventure in the world of the Dreamstalkers, skilled warriors and performers who must go to work each night inside the dreams of the powerful. But the nightmares are following close behind.

It’s time to board the Night Train and dive into an epic, magical adventure in the world of the Dreamstalkers. (But beware the nightmares…)

'A glorious world, a wild adventure and a fierce heroine. I can't stop thinking about this book!' – Robin Stevens on The Sea

‘A new book by Sarah Driver is always something special – this does not disappoint. Vivid storytelling full of magic and sparkle from one of my favourite authors.’ Jasbinder Bilan, Costa award-winning author of Asha and the Spirit Bird on Once We Were Witches

Audible Audio

Published February 1, 2024

About the author

Sarah Driver was born on the Sussex coast and started writing as a small child. She graduated with distinction from the Bath Spa MA in Writing for Young People in 2015, after winning the 2014 United Agents prize for ‘most promising writer’. She is also a nurse and midwife, having trained at the Florence Nightingale School at King's College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Dreamstalkers: The Night Train is releasing on February 1st 2024. It is the first in a new middle grade fantasy-adventure duology, telling the story of Bea Grimspuddle and Pip, an owl who smells like butter and candle smoke. In the world of Hirathorn, Bea lives in the remote wilds of a rugged moorland settlement called Thunderheart Tor. She longs to become a mage, riding off on adventures, with the power to use wild magic. Instead she is taught that all the magic of Hirathorn resides exclusively with the elites in the faraway city of Silvervein. Everything changes when the dreams disappear, strange shadows are glimpsed and nightmares come walking. Then the Night Train steams across the moors, and Bea is swept into an adventure in the world of the Dreamstalkers.

Other novels by Sarah Driver are The Huntress trilogy, which tells the story of Mouse, who grows up aboard a ship captained by her grandmother in a world of moonsprites, terrodyls and merwraiths. Once We Were Witches is a fantasy duology which follows Spel Wrythe and her sister Egg, who grow up in Mistress Mouldheels' School for Wicked Girls believing they are the daughters of criminals. Learning the truth will lead them on an adventure to a strange funeral parlour guarding even more secrets.

Photo credit: Lauren Psyk.