When maths slips, reality follows.
MATHATAR
Fourteen-year-old Maya wakes at her grandfather’s house with the feeling that something is quietly wrong.
At first, the signs are small.
A digital clock loses digits. A shopping list rewrites itself. A receipt becomes meaningless when its decimal point slips out of place.
Then Maya learns the truth: maths is not simply a subject humans invented. It is part of what keeps reality stable.
The distortions she has noticed are called mathslips — and they are getting worse.
When Grandad’s fox-red Labrador, Fella, chases a rabbit through a portal hidden in the workshop, Maya follows and finds herself in ancient Ur, a city where counting, measuring, trade and record-keeping are essential to life.
There she meets Aya, a bright, practical girl whose world is being attacked by faceless forces known as the Null.
Someone — or something — is stealing mathematics from history.
And if Maya cannot stop it, the consequences will not stay in the past.
The World of Mathatar
Meet the characters
Mathatar begins in ancient Ur, one of the great cities of Mesopotamia, where mathematics was not abstract or optional. It was used to measure grain, record trade, build, tax, plan, divide, predict and survive.
Maya’s journey takes the reader into a world where numbers have weight, records have power and a missing calculation can change everything.
But the book is not a history lesson wearing a disguise. It is an adventure about courage, friendship, memory, family, power and the danger of losing the ideas that make civilisation possible..
What Makes Mathatar Different?
Adventure first. Ideas underneath.
Mathatar is written for readers aged roughly 11–14, while also offering plenty for adults who enjoy intelligent adventure fiction.
It blends:
Time-slip adventure
Ancient history
Mathematical ideas made meaningful
Family mystery
Friendship and humour
A loyal dog with a noble nose
A threat big enough to end reality, but strange enough to start with a missing decimal point
The series is built around one central idea: maths is not just schoolwork. It is one of humanity’s oldest ways of making sense of existence.
Status
Where the book is now
Book One of Mathatar is currently being prepared for submission to literary agents and publishing professionals.
Adam is developing the wider series, supporting materials and school-facing content alongside the manuscript.