The secrets of a woman and her adopted son struggling to survive the London Blitz are about to be exposed in this "darkly comic" ( Booklist ) novel.It's late 1944. Hitler's rockets are raining down on London with vicious regularity and it's the coldest winter in living memory. The Allies are gaining ground, but victory is certainly dragging its feet.In a large house next to Hampstead Heath, Vee Sedge is barely scra...

From the acclaimed author of Crooked Heart comes another "smart, funny, ingenious, revealing tale of London life during the Second World War" ( The Independent).It is 1940. France has fallen, and only a narrow strip of sea lies between Great Britain and invasion. Now is the time when everyone must do their part. Young copywriter Catrin Cole is drafted into the Ministry of Information to help "write women" into propaganda films—something that the me...

"A wonderfully old-fashioned Dickensian novel . . . both darkly funny and deeply touching" from the bestselling author of Old Baggage ( The New York Times Book Review).When Noel Bostock—aged ten, no family—is evacuated from London to escape the Nazi bombardment during World War II, he lands in a suburb northwest of the city with Vera Sedge—a thirty-six-year old widow drowning in debts and dependents. Always desperate for money, she's unsc...

#1 UK Bestseller. "A thoughtful, funny, companionable novel . . . executed with verve" from the bestselling author of Their Finest and Crooked Heart ( The London Times).1928. Riffling through a cupboard, Matilda Simpkin comes across a small wooden club—an old possession that she hasn't seen for more than a decade. Immediately, memories come flooding back to Mattie—memories of a thrilling past, which only further serve to remind her of her ...

Enter a wonderful world filled with real magic, mystery … and danger.As if being small for his age and also having S. Horten as his name isnt bad enough, now 10-year-old Stuart is forced to move far away from all his friends.But on his very first day in his new home, Stuarts swept up in an extraordinary adventure: the quest to find his great-uncle Tony--a famous magician who literally disappeared off the face of the earth--and Tonys marvelous, long-lost workshop. A...

This magical follow-up to Hortens Miraculous Mechanisms continues Stuarts amazing adventures--with more enchantment, more surprises, and more thrills. When we last left 10-year-old Stuart, he had just recovered his great-uncle Tonys long-lost magic workshop. Now all the priceless tricks are on display in the Beeton Museum--and Stuart is junior curator of the exhibit! But another mystery awaits Stuart: Where did the great magician hide his will? Only by entering the magic world of ...

#1 UK Bestseller“A thoughtful, funny, companionable novel…executed with verve.”—London TimesThe author of the acclaimed Crooked Heart returns with a comic, charming, and surprisingly timely portrait of a once pioneering suffragette trying to find her new passion in post-WWI era London.Riffling through a cupboard, Matilda Simpkin comes across a small wooden club—an old possession that she hasn’t s...

Stuart Horten – ten years old and small for his age – moves to the dreary town of Beeton, far away from all his friends. And then he meets his new next-door neighbours, the unbearable Kingley triplets, and things get even worse. But in Beeton begins the strangest adventure of Stuart's life as he is swept up in quest to find his great-uncle's lost workshop – a workshop stuffed with trickery and magic. There are clues to follow and puzzles to solve, but what starts as fun ends up as danger, ...

Ed and his sister Roo are faced with the most boring half-term holiday in history – five days spent in the company of their elderly neighbour, Miss Filey, and her ancient, smelly cat. But when they find a box of birthday candles in a cupboard in Miss Filey's house, their world is changed completely, because these are no ordinary candles and every single one of them comes with a wish. There's only one problem – some of those wishes actually belong to someone else ...

You're called Fidge and you're nearly 11. You've been hurled into a strange world. You have three companions: two are unbelievably weird and the third is your awful cousin Graham. You have to solve a series of nearly impossible clues. You need to deal with a cruel dictator and 3000 Wimbley Woos (yes, you read that sentence correctly). And the whole situation – the whole, entire thing – is your fault. Wed Wabbit is an adventure story about friendship, danger and the terror of never being ab...

Stuart Horten (ten, but looks younger) is now the owner of a magician’s workshop – except that without his Great-Uncle’s Last Will and Testament, he can’t actually prove it. Which is a problem, since someone else wants it as well, someone who has a lot of money. The workshop contains seven magnificent stage illusions, but when Stuart starts to investigate them, he discovers that each is the gateway to a magical adventure, with a puzzle to solve and a clue to extract. As the clues mount up,...

In this witty, charming follow-up to the acclaimed Crooked Heart, the life of lies a small time scammer and her adopted son have constructed in London becomes endangered during the tumultuous final months of World War II.It’s late 1944. Hitler’s rockets are raining down on London with vicious regularity and it’s the coldest winter in living memory. The Allies are gaining ground, but victory is certainly dragging its feet.In a large house next to Ha...