The Boy With the Cuckoo-Clock Heart. This item is unavailable.The Boy With the Cuckoo-Clock Heart

Edinburgh, 1874. On the coldest night the world has ever seen, Little Jack is born with a frozen heart and immediately undergoes a life-saving operation. But Dr Madeleine is no conventional medic and surgically implants a cuckoo-clock into his chest. Little Jack grows up different to other children: every day begins with a daily wind-up. At school he is bullied for his 'ticking', but Dr Madeleine reminds him he must resist strong emotion: anger is far too dangerous for his cuckoo-clock heart. So when the beautiful young street-singer, Miss Acacia, appears - pursued by Joe, the school bully - Jack is in danger of more than just falling in love... he is putting his life on the line.

Described by Iggy Pop as 'Francois Truffaut with a rock 'n' roll band', Mathias Malzieu is the lead singer of French pop group Dionysos and the genius behind the French bestseller La Mécanique du Coeur. He has written an album based on the book, and is co-director of the forthcoming animated feature film optioned by Luc Besson. Born in 1974, he grew up near Montpelier, and is currently based in Paris.