‘But the thing is,’ said Horley, ‘they didn’t know each other at all. Never heard of each other. It wasn’t about the makers. Only about the works.’

On a dark winter’s night in 1970, Horley and Grinstead huddle for warmth in the Senior Common Room of a college in Oxford. Conversation turns to the two impressive works of art that Horley has recently added to his collection. What the two men don’t know is that these pieces are connected in mysterious and improbable ways; and they are about to be caught in the cross-fire of a story which has travelled time and worlds.

A His Dark Materials story.