Is this a novel, or is it a text book on philosophy? This question is in itself just one of the conundrums raised by this amazing book. Few works of fiction come with extensive index notes. This is a dual-purpose book. On one hand it is a young adult's guide to the most difficult metaphysical questions in Western Philosophy, and on the other hand it is a fantasy based on the many ideas it presents in an easy prose that makes even incomprehensibles like Hegel accessible. It begins when a fourteen year old Norwegian girl receives an anonymous note bearing the questions, "Who are you?" and "Where did the world come from". Sophie's world changes as she receives a series of philosophical essays, comprising the beginnings of a strange correspondence course. She is guided step by step through pre-Socratic and Hellenistic philosophy. The fictional elements that intercut so neatly with the text book passages of the philosophy course are equally fascinating. Sophie attempts to track down the philosopher who communicates at first only through his messenger dog Hermes. Eventually, Sophie finds him to be a man called Alberto Knox. She first sees him in a video he posts to her in which he is talking directly to Plato, livc in ancient Greece. From here, the story takes a more fantastic turn. Sophie meets Knox, and also discovers that her life is being affected by another figure called, With deliberate similarity of name, Albert Krag, and another teenage girl called Hilde, who seems to be engaged in a parallel debate. Alberto Knox begins to educate Sophie in the shocking realisation that she is merely a fictional character in a book on philosophy which Krag is writing for his daughter during his absence from her side. Sophie finds that her education is now being illustrated with the aid of visits from other fictional characters. Marxist theories of the division between bourgeoisie and the proletariat is illustrated by the Little Match Girl attempting to sell Ebenezer Scrooge her wares. It may seem simplistic, but it works wonderfully.