The Realm of ShellsA delicately balanced novel of childhood secrets, hidden treasure and the lengths people will go to in order to protect or discover what they deem valuable. The Margate Shell Grotto really exists: a serpentine corridor decorated in swirling patterns using 50 varieties of shell, and whoever made it created an enigma that has puzzled historians and speliologists for generations. Though it has been suggested that the cave might be Phoenician in origin,