What if the stories were never just stories?
Step through the stone circle
Book One is out now in paperback. Order a copy for a young reader, or stock it for your school or library.
Paperback · Inbetween Worlds Publishing · trade discount and returns available for schools and libraries.
“This is the story of five children who were trusted with more than they asked for. A key that did not belong to them, a map that watched them back, and a choice that would not only change their own lives, but echo into worlds that had almost forgotten each other.” From the Preface
A box that hums. A map that watches back.
Set in and around Pitlochry and the Pass of Killiecrankie, Custodians of the Stone Circle follows Amelia, Ava, Musa, Noa and Ivy as they discover that the stories they grew up on are true. A mysterious box, an ancient map, and a stone circle in a nearby field draw them into “in-between” corridors connecting different worlds and times.
Along the way they meet djinn, confront difficult choices, and learn what it means to be trusted with knowledge and power that the adults they love have spent years quietly arguing over.
The story weaves everyday Muslim family life, warmth and humour together with deeper questions of amanah (trust), justice, belonging, and who gets to be at the centre of the story.
Read the full series overview →Five children. Five ways of seeing.
They were raised on the same stories — and each of them believed in a different way.
Believed every word, because the world had always felt a little enchanted to her anyway.
Believed most of it — but wanted footnotes, diagrams and proof before she’d say so.
Pretended not to believe in anything he couldn’t measure — yet kept an old key in his pocket.
Filled page after page with drawings of places she had never once stood in.
Listened — to the wind’s changes, the river’s moods, and the moment the trees fell silent.
Big questions, told with warmth, humour and heart
Custodianship & trust
The map, the key, the corridors — all treated as an amanah, a responsibility to be looked after, not owned.
Representation & belonging
Muslim Scottish children at the very centre of the adventure, written for young readers who rarely see themselves there.
The unseen, without fear
Djinn appear as another creation with their own choices and tests — never summoned, never monsters, never magic to wield.
From a Scottish field to a world-spanning network of trust
Custodians of the Stone Circle
Five children discover that the stories around them are true, and step into a world of thresholds, guardians and difficult choices.
The Custodians and the In-between Worlds
The story widens across Rome, the Himalayas, Oaxaca and Aotearoa — exploring power, secrecy, and the difference between care and control.
The Custodians and the Chamber of Threads
What kind of custodians do the children want to become, once they can finally see the larger pattern clearly?
Bring the Custodians into your classroom
A full Curriculum for Excellence-aligned teacher’s guide is ready for P6/7 global citizenship units, literature circles and reading-for-pleasure stock.
View the teacher’s guidance