About the Author

Peter Dickinson was born in Africa but raised and educated in England. From 1952 to 1969 he was on the editorial staff of Punch, and since then earned his living writing fiction of various kinds for children and adults. His books have been published in several languages throughout the world.
 
The author of twenty-one crime and mystery novels for adults, Dickinson was the first to win the Gold Dagger Award of the Crime Writers’ Association for two books running: The Glass-Sided Ants Nest (1968) and The Old English Peepshow (1969). Dickinson was shortlisted nine times for the prestigious Carnegie Medal for children’s literature and was the first author to win it twice.
 
Dickinson served as chairman of the Society of Authors and was a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2009 for services to literature. Peter Dickinson died on December 16, 2015, at the age of eighty-eight.
 
 

Reviews

“[An] amusing and elegantly structured tour de force.” —The New York Times
 
“Comparisons with Isak Dinesen are inevitable and Tefuga does not suffer by such comparisons.” —Houston Chronicle
 
“For sheer storytelling power, Tefuga is wonderful. The characters are alive, the setting dazzles, and the blazing Africa sun almost brings a rash to the back of your neck.” —The Washington Book World
 
“Stunning . . . [Dickinson’s] descriptions are extraordinarily vivid . . . and his climax is obliquely told yet an unforgettable moment of horror.” —Time
 
“Peter Dickinson’s technique is dazzling, and he writes as though there were witchdoctors present at his christening.” —The Guardian
 
“The works of Peter Dickinson are like caviar—an acquired taste that can easily become an addiction.” —Time