On a lonely hill sits a gloomy castle with thirteen frozen clocks and one equally cold Duke. In The 13 Clocks, James Thurber's sublimely revamped fairy tale, the wicked Duke — who imagines he has killed time — and the Duke's beautiful niece — for whom time seems to have run out — both meet their match, courtesy of an enterprising and very handsome prince in disguise.

Readers young and old will take pleasure in this tale of love forestalled but ultimately fulfilled, admiring its upstanding hero ("He yearned to find in a far land the princess of his dreams, singing as he went, and possibly slaying a dragon here and there") and unapologetic villain ("We all have flaws," the duke said. "Mine is being wicked") while wondering at the enigmatic Golux, the mysterious stranger whose unpredictable interventions speed the story to its necessarily happy end. (From Penguin)