Trade paperback edition with chapter heading illustrations. 
In the fall of 1901, in the town of Dayton, Ohio, a series of mysterious letters begins arriving at the garden home of Dr. and Mrs. Uyterhoeven. All are written by the doctor, who left only months before to serve in the relief camps set up for the Boer in South Africa, yet the letters make no mention of refugees or the war. Instead, they tell of a fantastic land the doctor has discovered, a floating island populated entirely by games pieces