January 1st 1901 and, in the North Sea, something impossible is taking place. Thunder echoes from beneath the waves. Water boils and steam rises up. When the mist finally clears, an island stands revealed - four miles long, one mile wide and formed in its entirety of black volcanic rock. No-one knows it yet but the island has a name. It is called Fidelity and it will change the course of human history. The first expeditions sent by the governments of Britain and the Netherlands to explore the island do not return, the only survivors limping back hopelessly unhinged, gibbering. The island seems cursed. No country lays claim to it. Ships and sailors shun that quarter of the ocean. A perfect opportunity, then, for cross-dressing millionaire Mr Spinnaker, inspired by the barely-intelligible prophecies of his long-dead brother, to purchase the problem of the island lock, stock and barrel from the British government. Against all expectation, when Spinnaker sends his own team to the island with the apparently delusional intent of establishing a colony there, the place seems to welcome them with open arms.And yet, this is not how history worked out. Surely everyone knows that there is no such island in the North Sea, that nothing even remotely like this ever took place? Who, then, is the very old man, living in what seems like contemporary Britain, prepared to do anything to tell his story? Coddled and fussed over by his household staff, how is it that he knows so much about the island when the rest of the world dismisses him as a harmless eccentric? And why is it that the island is set to return to our world?

January 1st 1901 and, in the North Sea, something impossible is taking place. Thunder echoes from beneath the waves. Water boils and steam rises up. When the mist finally clears, an island stands revealed - four miles long, one mile wide and formed in its entirety of black volcanic rock. No-one knows it yet but the island has a name. It is called Fidelity and it will change the course of human history. The first expeditions sent by the governments of Britain and the Netherlands to explore the island do not return, the only survivors limping back hopelessly unhinged, gibbering. The island seems cursed. No country lays claim to it. Ships and sailors shun that quarter of the ocean. A perfect opportunity, then, for cross-dressing millionaire Mr Spinnaker, inspired by the barely-intelligible prophecies of his long-dead brother, to purchase the problem of the island lock, stock and barrel from the British government. Against all expectation, when Spinnaker sends his own team to the island with the apparently delusional intent of establishing a colony there, the place seems to welcome them with open arms.And yet, this is not how history worked out.Surely everyone knows that there is no such island in the North Sea, that nothing even remotely like this ever took place?

Who, then, is the very old man, living in what seems like contemporary Britain, prepared to do anything to tell his story? Coddled and fussed over by his household staff, how is it that he knows so much about the island when the rest of the world dismisses him as a harmless eccentric? And why is it that the island is set to return to our world?

Jonathan Barnes graduated from Oxford University with a First in English Literature. He's a remarkable new novelist, and a brilliant, quirky writer, who lives in Surbiton and works in London and is a contributor to The Times Literary Supplement.