Mary Pope Osborne is the author of over forty books for young people. She was the president of the Author's Guild, the leading organization for professional writers in the US, for two years and has won many awards for her books. She lives in New York with her husband, Will, and their dog, Bailey, who sleeps on top of Mary's desk every day while she writes.

Now master librarians, Jack and Annie are sent on a mission to find a lost story - in ancient Rome! It seems peaceful until the ground shakes and they realise they're there on the day that Mount Vesuvius erupts and they're in danger of being buried !