The Just City is a city the gods Athene and Apollo decide to set up and run, following the rules Plato laid down in his Republic, in order to achieve the "ideal society"-which becomes much more difficult when Socrates arrives.

Here in the Just City you will become your best selves.

You will learn and grow and strive to be excellent.' One day, in a moment of philosophical puckishness, the time-travelling goddess Pallas Athene decides to put Plato to the test and create the Just City.

She locates the City on a Mediterranean island and populates it with over ten thousand children and a few hundred adults from all eras of history . . . along with some handy robots from the far human future. Meanwhile, Apollo - stunned by the realization that there are things that human beings understand better than he does - has decided to become a mortal child, head to Athene's City and see what all the fuss is about. Then Socrates arrives, and starts asking troublesome questions. What happens next is a tale only the brilliant Jo Walton could tell.