It was the 13th of September, 13 days after my 13th birthday, when I first learned how to be invisible.

Strato Nyman couldn't be more of an odd-one-out. He's the only black kid in Hedgecombe-upon-Dray, he knows more about particle physics than his teacher, and he's constantly picked on by school bully Lloyd Archibald Turnbull. It's only at home that he blends in to the background – his parents are too busy arguing to notice he exists. But one day, Strato picks up a dusty old book in a mysterious bookshop and learns how to become invisible. He soon discovers that people aren't always what they seem ... and realizes standing out isn't so bad after all.