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Silent Night by Emma Read

A large family getaway at Christmas might seem like a great idea, or it might be your worst nightmare.  However, what you do not imagine is that you will find yourself in a real world nightmare; well this story brings your worst fears to fruition and at what is supposed to be the happiest time of the year.

Masen, his brother Joss and Cousin Connor, together with their families are sharing a holiday home in Wales for the festivities.  The boys are sleeping in a mobile home away from the main house, but are warm and well fed.  Like all young people, they are up early on Christmas morning to explore the fascinating parcels under the tree.  What they did not expect was to find the house empty, with all of the adults missing, even their beds had not been slept in!  The strangest thing was a series of weird miniature christmas trees that had suddenly died during the night; could there be a connection between these events?  As the boys begin a search for the adults they discover that all the other local houses are also empty, then they see some people who appear to be in a daze and are walking southwards, towards the sea.  It is only when they encounter a young girl called Gloria, that they think they might get help.  She and her father have avoided the infection and will provide a safe haven until the family is found, but what has caused this catastrophe in the first place?  Of course the main question is whether the families can be found and just how widespread is this contagion that is affecting everyone?

This is an absolutely fantastic story that has been quoted as taking inspiration from “The Day of the Triffids” by John Wyndham, so if this new story can encourage young readers to try this classic tale I will be very happy.  The underlying plot that we are slowly made aware of is quite chilling and the perpetrators are even more so, because thy actually think that what they are doing is for the good of humanity and fail to understand the realities of life.  The three boys are typical in their interests and feelings and we have the gradual growth of empathy and familial feelings as they have to depend on each other, even if they don’t always understand why the others are acting in a given way.  This really is a book that leaves an impact and gives us as many questions as answers.  It will make a great present for this year and will be a firm favourite in years to come.

About Emma

Once upon a time (in school), Emma was told she had to choose between being a scientist and a creative but deep down she knew she could be both.

Her favourite things in the world are: badges, Death On the Nile (1978), hats, foxes, deserts, desserts and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. She’s not sure which holiday is best – Halloween or Christmas (she loves all things spooky, but also presents and singing Christmas carols.) Her one regret in life is never having trained to be an astronaut.

​Picture from Chicken House Books.

Author information from her website, with thanks.

 

 

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Kittiwake Stormhaven and the Pirate’s Portolano by Victoria Williamson

Pirates have been a perennial favourite in literature going back to characters such as Long John Silver and Captain Hook.  However there are also a wealth of pirates who actually lived and whose exploits formed the basis of these fictional stories.  So, it is no wonder that we still have an abundance of stories  which include these mythical sounding characters.

In this story, Kitty is the daughter of a ship’s captain and has spent her 11 years on board ship with her mother.  Her father is presumed dead after a terrible storm sank his ship many years ago and her elder sister  disappeared when Kitty was still very young.  The world in which the story is set is a mix of  old and new technologies; where the mighty ships that trade across the seas are powered by a substance called Marinium, which comes from a 5 yearly meteor shower.  Unfortunately the supply of the rare substance is running out and both traders and pirates are in a desperate hunt to find more supplies, because if the ships run out of power, they will sink!  Whilst Kitty and her mother’s ship the “Amazon Princess” are searching, Kitty discovers that her missing sister is now a much feared pirate queen, but can she be saved, or does she enjoy the life of a pirate?

This is a brilliantly swashbuckling and exciting story for middle grade children and will make a wonderful addition to collections for “Talk like a Pirate” day.  Kitty is an engaging person who  although still very young, is very determined to make the most of life at sea. Her best friend is called Scally and he is stowing away, as he had been branded as a pirate; his misuse of language reminds me of the character Mrs Malaprop (Sheridan, The Rivals) and the author has come up with some wonderful alternative words.

An aspect that I particularly enjoy is the inclusion of illustrations and information that are meant to come from the book called “The Pirate’s Portolano”, which is designed as a guide to the sea world they inhabit and also the pirates who are the greatest danger.  The “Amazon Princess” is a multi tiered vessel, with a similar number of decks to some of the mega-liners that cruise the world today.  In some ways they remind me of the travelling cities imagined by Philip Reeve in “Mortal Engines” and by William Nicholson in the “Windsinger” series.  The author has created a world that is both familiar and also strange, so that the audience is never quite sure what will happen next.  Luckily the plot seems to suggest that we should be ready for another thrilling instalment in the future and I will definitely be looking forward to learning more about Kitty and her adventures.

 

About the Author

Victoria Williamson is an award-winning author from Glasgow, Scotland, who loved reading books and writing adventure stories from an early age. After studying Physics at the University of Glasgow, she set out on her own real-life adventures, which included teaching maths and science in Cameroon, training teachers in Malawi, teaching English in China and working with children with additional support needs in the UK.

Her previous novels include The Fox Girl and the White Gazelle, The Boy with the Butterfly Mind, Hag Storm, War of the Wind, The Pawnshop of Stolen Dreams, Norah’s Ark, The Whistlers in the Dark, Feast of Ashes, and Skyfleet: March of the Mutabugs. Her books have won the RED Book Award 2024, YA-aldi Glasgow Secondary School Libraries Book Award 2023 and the Bolton Children’s Fiction Award 2020/2021, and have been short-listed and long-listed for numerous other awards. War of the Wind and Norah’s Ark were also both nominated for the 2024 Yoto Carnegie Medals.

Victoria writes and edits Key Stage 2 books for the education company Twinkl. She spends the rest of her time writing novels and visiting schools, libraries and literary festivals to give author talks and run creative writing workshops. Her latest novel, Kittiwake Stormhaven and the Pirate’s Portolano, channels her love of pirates and swashbuckling adventure to create a steampunk world set on the seven seas, and is illustrated by the very talented James Brown.
You can find out more about Victoria’s books, school visits and free resources for schools on her website: www.strangelymagical.com

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Scarlet Morning by N D Stevenson

This sounded like the usual story of pirates and a fantastical world very different from ours.  Well, I was completely wrong about so many of my assumptions.  This is one of those books that really makes you wonder about what is real and what is in the characters’ imagination.

The story begins with two children, Viola and Wilmur, who are left in the cheerless town of Caveat, in the care of an old woman called Hestur.  They are barely existing, but keep alive the hope that their separate parents will come to find them eventually.  When their carer mysteriously disappears, the children struggle to find enough to eat and seem to depend on pickled eggs.  Then  an outlandish pirate called Captain Cadence Chase arrives and wants a strange book that has been in the house for all of their lives.  A very canny Viola agrees to hand over the book in exchange for the children being taken to the largest town in the region of Dickerson’s Sea.  What follows is the most amazing and fantastical tale of pirates, spirits and the power of family and friendship.  However, the pirates are undercover, after they were all banned fifteen years before and most were actually killed by the Queensmen, followers of the late lamented Queen Hail Meridian, who had also been killed in the uprising.  The story is a complete roller-coaster ride, where you are not always sure what is real and what is a form of hallucination.

The main characters are full of determination, although Wilmur is less forceful than Viola, so that on the pirate ship he soon settles down to the life of a sailor and obeying orders  from those more senior.  Viola, on the other hand, wants to discover the mystery surrounding the book and also what happened during the bloody uprising, which took place when she was a very small child.  The author has blended  the main story, with a sub text about how seagulls can attack humans and turn them into spirits and giving them a silver circle within the eye.  Viola discovers that she has this issue and yet she has not been turned into the spirit, although she does start to hear the voice of others.

What makes this title such a stand out delight is the number and quality of the illustrations, all of which are produced by N D Stevenson.  There is a wonderfully dynamic edge to the artwork and you really get a feel for the energy that is being radiated by the characters.  The creation of so many pictures adds to the energy that you feel throughout the book and the sharpness of the style increases the sense of how different this world is.  The story came to a satisfying end, but it felt as if there was more to come, so I was delighted to see that the spine of the book describes it as being Book 1, meaning that I have the pleasure of reading the follow-up story at some time in the future.

About the author / illustrator:

ND Stevenson is the award-winning, bestselling author and illustrator of Nimona and The Fire Never Goes Out and the co creator of Lumberjanes and was the show runner for the award-winning Netflix series She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. He currently lives in Los Angeles.

 

 

Screenshot

Scarlet Morning by ND Stevenson (£14.99, HarperCollins Publishers) available now.

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Aliens made me do it by David McPhail and Rory Walker

What an absolutely fabulous but crazy adventure this is.  When wannabe tyrants Prince Perseus and his arch enemy Princess Cassiopeia, both land on Earth, together with their robot guards, it is with the intention of wiping us out.  The trouble is they don’t choose the right place, or people, to negotiate with.  Hillman is a young boy, being looked after by his granddad and doesn’t take kindly to his dad’s car being flattened by an alien spaceship.  This is Cassiopeia’s ship; the only one, as the rest of her invasion fleet has been accidentally miniaturized, putting her plans in danger.  Prince Perseus  finds himself at the local rubbish dump, where he is saved by a young girl called Roz; she sees the potential to use the invaders to save her granddad’s care home, but is robbing a bank the way to achieve this?

David McPhail has given us a hysterically funny group of characters, which gets them into situations that we can only be grateful are not real (we hope).  I particularly love a major twist towards the end of the story, it really rings true.  Given the current situation that we find around the world, I think that this article by the author has a lot of  common sense to pass on to us.

 

Comic villains and heroes and present politics

In Aliens Made Me Do It, a purple-haired alien tyrant, Prince Perseus, arrives on Earth with one mission: destroy the planet. Why? Because he feels like it—and because he thinks Earth smells funny. (To be fair, he has landed on a rubbish dump).

On paper, Perseus is terrifying. In practice, he’s stomping about in a bucket-shaped helmet and clod-hopping boots, ranting about how custard is the most dangerous substance in the galaxy. Does he sound silly? Of course. But does he sound any sillier than some modern politicians? I’ll let you decide.

His sworn enemy, Princess Cassiopeia, isn’t exactly a genius either. She struts in wearing banana boots, still recovering from the embarrassment of shrinking her entire space fleet while making a smoothie. Their bickering, as the story goes on, starts to resemble two local councillors arguing furiously about the size of a hedge.

That’s the point: power is often absurd. The British Prime Minister gets his or her own official cat. The US President pardons a turkey every Thanksgiving. (Imagine explaining that to the aliens: “Yeh, we save one bird, but then we eat millions of its cousins.”) Power, viewed sideways, is ridiculous—and kids are experts at looking sideways.

Which brings us to the heroes. In my experience, the most sensible people in any room are usually the children. That’s why in Aliens Made Me Do It, it’s not the blustering aliens or pompous adults who’ll save Earth, but two ordinary kids, Hillman and Roz. Because when it comes to galactic crises—or local hedges—it’s often the children who actually make the most sense.

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The Feathered Book by Charlie Nutbrown

It is very rare for me to find a book that becomes one of my future ‘comfort’ reads, but this one definitely fits the bill.  Not least because the author loves my favourite authors, especially Dorothy L Sayers, but also because he comes from Bristol, where I worked in libraries for 20 years.

This is the story of the incredible character that is Monty the Fox.  He is an avid fan of crime fiction, but he has something of a butterfly mind; flitting from one interest to another, but never sticking with anything.  In this he reminds me of Toad (Wind in the Willows) and like that character, he is totally frustrating for his friend Nettle (a rabbit), who is always the one to pick up the pieces.  However, this is such an intriguing  mystery that our hero does not have time to get bored with the investigation; perhaps he has finally found an occupation that is challenging and original enough to keep his brilliant brain fully occupied?

I am delighted that Charlie Nutbrown has written this wonderful article about how he gained his love of classic crime novels and how Sherlock Holmes has inspired this wonderful new sleuth.

 

MONTY THE FOX – THE NEW SHERLOCK HOMES?

One summer’s day, when I was eleven of so, my dad threw me a copy of a  book: The Penguin Complete Sherlock Holmes. For the next few days I sat in the garden, moving only to eat and sleep, and read my way through those 56 short stories and 4 novels – diving headlong into the world of
opium dens and gentlemen’s clubs, meerschaum pipes and London smog. Who could resist these blackmailers, murderers, and monstrous hounds? It was wonderfully seductive – both comforting and grotesque, familiar and exotic. What’s more, in Sherlock Holmes I found a hero I could believe in: brilliant, eccentric, and (crucially) entirely lacking in social skills.
So it was inevitable that when I came to write my children’s novel, The Feathered Book, it would feature a detective. My sleuth, Monty the Fox, is very deliberately not Holmes. Far from being cold and rational, he is over-excitable, childish and rather silly – a great fluffy ball of chaos and enthusiasm. Setting out to solve the theft of a cursed book from a locked room in a labyrinthine library, he blunders into all manner of messes: he gets ambushed, kidnapped by pirates, attacked by knife-wielding rats, and stuck in booby traps. Worst of all for a detective, he gets thoroughly bamboozled. Often, it is only the courage and good sense of his best friend, Nettle the Rabbit, that frees him from these mishaps.
Nevertheless, there is undeniably a large dash of Holmes in the book. Monty wears a dressing gown; he’s clever but unconventional; he flits between laziness and over-exertion. The book even begins and ends, in the manner of so many of Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories, with the detective and his friend in armchairs either side of a blazing fire. What’s more, Monty is inspired by a detective named Professor Meerschaum, the hero of a series of books the fox loves to read. A cold, austere polar bear, she owes more than a small debt to Holmes.
So, without my dad handing me that book on that distant summer’s day, it’s likely I would never have written The Feathered Book. I might not have been a writer at all. Since that holiday, I have re-read that book many times – so many times, in fact, that that old copy now lies in tatters, split in half on page 779, part way through The Valley of Fear. But no matter; I bought an identical copy. And, of course, I went on to read the other classics of detective fiction: Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham and Ngaio Marsh, Edmund Crispin, Michael Innes and John Dickson Carr. But deep down my heart remains, as it always will, with Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson in those messy, smoke-filled rooms in Baker Street.

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The Boy and the Pink Light by Mayra Clay and Line Andersen

A major focus for picture books over the last few years has been about mental health and well-being, linked with the concept of empathy.  It is always good to see new books which add to the collections available, to support the needs of young children, both at home and in school.

In this story, the central character is a young boy, who is full of life and enjoyment of the people and world around him.  Then one day he wakes up and the world seems a dark and upsetting place and he doesn’t know how to cope with the changes.   The appearance of a magical pink light acts as a catalyst, in that the boy is able to speak to it and explain his feelings.  He says that nothing seems to make sense anymore and he can’t find a way to feel better.The pink light tells him to take the light into his heart and whenever he is sad, to think about the warmth and love of the lights.  This works for the young boy and he is able to use the pink light to  help himself, but he is also able to help others who are in need of help and support.

This is a delightful and heartwarming story about how we all need help sometimes.  The text is simple and yet very warm and caring, so that a child can feel empathy with the story.  The delicate illustrations also bring a sense of calm and an understanding of the issues that we all face.  It will make a wonderful addition to any classroom or library for Foundation to KS1 children.

 

Mayra Clay profile image

About the author

Mayra Clay is Mexican who has lived in the UK since 2010 with her amazing husband and her two fantastic boys.

She has been a Meditation Teacher for The Bright Path Ishayas since 2011 and worked as a Teaching Assistant for several years at a local primary school near her home in Bethnal Green, London.

Having her two boys and working as a Teaching Assistant helped her realise that children are fountains of love and compassion. It was this realisation that inspired her to begin writing children’s books, in the hope that no child need lose awareness of this gift – a gift that we are all born with, but that most of us forget when we start to “grow up”.  (Thanks to Amazon UK and the publisher for this biography, found on the former’s website).

 

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A Necromancer called Gam Gam by Adam Holcombe

A Necromancer Called Gam Gam was the 2nd place finalist in BBNYA 2024!

About BBNYA

BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 15 finalists (16 in 2024) and one overall winner.

If you want some more information about BBNYA, check out the BBNYA Website https://www.bbnya.com/ or take a peek over on Twitter @BBNYA_Official. BBNYA is brought to you in association with the book blogger support group @The_WriteReads

I was delighted to discover these awards a couple of years ago, through @The_WriteReads and have been lucky enough to take part in several blog tours since then.  It has given me the opportunity to read stories that I might have otherwise missed, particularly those that are readable by a large age range.

Whilst this story is listed as being adult, I think that it will be enjoyed by quite a number of Young Adults.  This is a novella of just over 100 pages and follows 12 year old Mina, as she desperately tries to escape from the solders who had just killed her father.  She finds refuge in the caravan of an old woman called Gam Gam, who manages to get rid of the soldiers, at least temporarily.  Mina discovers that she and her saviour have more in common than she could image.  Whilst Mina is a neuromancer and can read and remove people’s thoughts, Gam Gam is a necromancer and can raise the dead, even if only for a short while.  The events of the story take place over just a few days.

The two unlikely companions, plus a ghost and several of the ‘undead’ find that they have formidable enemies and they have to use all their magical abilities to overcome the sergeant, who leads the soldiers and who actually had killed Mina’s father.  There are some quite blood thirsty elements to this story and it is best not to read it just before bedtime; but horror novels are particularly in fashion at the moment, even among quite young people, so it should prove popular.

What really strikes me about this book is the relationship between the living and the dead, but also about how victims very often feel to blame for what others are doing to them and those around them.  When Gam Gam has sent the soldiers away and Mina is feeling responsible for her father’s death, Gam Gam says “ I have learned in my time that if two men are chasing a young girl, it is never the girl’s fault ”   throughout the book she is constantly reassuring Mina that she is actually the victim, something that really needs to be shown to the readers of this book.  We live in a world where people are bullied and threatened into losing their feelings of self-worth.  All in all this story has several threads that will act as starters for discussions about empathy, feelings, death and self-confidence.

Author Bio

Adam Holcombe daylights as a programmer and moonlights as an author. After spending years toying with the idea of writing, he decided to fully commit and work toward releasing his first novel. Then Gam Gam got in the way, and his first novel became his first novella. The novel will come later. When he’s not locked in a cold basement, typing away, he can be found hanging out with his wife, his dog, and his tortoise or playing D&D or board games with friends

 

 

Book Details 

Length: 110 Pages

Genre: Fantasy

Age Category: Adult

Date Published: May 30, 2023

Amazon Link: https://a.co/d/5PLyfAS (Canada) https://a.co/d/5OLFqPX (USA) https://amzn.eu/d/2ItLDuC (UK)

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/122994594-a-necromancer-called-gam-gam

The Story Graph Link: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/29693154-e3c8-4297-aaa3-b65a63af6046

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Art is for everyone

Over the last five years or so I have been lucky enough to be part of the judging team for the SLA Information Book Award.  During that time we would see groups of books on very similar themes although the actual content would be aimed a differing age groups and would look at a multitude of aspects associated with the theme.  Art has been a recurring topic and yet I am delighted by the way that authors and publishers are constantly able to find different ways of connecting with their audience.  Here are some of the titles that were put forward for the award in the last few years.

 

Uclan, 9781915235565

“Art is Everywhere” by Joe Haddow is a book for KS2 and KS3, which introduces young people to the wide variety of  interests that can come under the heading of ‘Art’. It includes music, art, film, tv, and modern forms of digital art.  It will help the readers think in broader terms about the subject

Noodle Juice, 9781915613158

“What is Art” by Noodle Juice and Katie Rewse is an introduction to the concepts of art.  It is aimed at younger readers and starts by asking questions and then attempting to answer, but in quite broad terms.  Good for KS1

“Picturing my Anger” by Anna Shepherd and Alicia Mas.  What an excellent book to help young people learn to work through their emotions.  It uses cartoons, colours and other illustrations to help them understand and create strategies to cope with their negative feelings. (Franklin Watts, 9781445184852)

Wayland, 9781526320667

“Art Alive with Science” by Mary Auld and Sue Downing is a fascinating look at how science can be perceived through the medium of art.  From light, shapes, materials and many other aspects we can see how the two subjects are related.

“Busy Little Fingers: Art” by Eva Wong Nava and Eleonora Marton.  A short introduction to 10 art movements of the last 150 years.  It is aimed at the very young readers and you can see how these movements would appeal, as children will love to try and reproduce these styles.  (Big Picture Press, 97818000784642)

 

Macmillan, 9780753448274

“The Stories and Secrets of Colour” by Susie Brooks and Sirjana Kaur is a fascinating look at the importance of colour, both in the natural world and in the world of art.  It covers the science of colour as well as its development in the world of cinema and photography. the latter part of the book actually looks at colours themselves and how they have been used over the centuries.

Wide eyed, 9780711265363

“Whole world of Art” by Sarah Phillips and Dion Mbd is a chronological skim through art of the past 5000 plus years, starting in Ancient Egypt and covering civilizations around the world.  It is a shame that pre-historic cave paintings are not given a place in this , but otherwise it is a good introduction.

“The artist” by ed vere  is a delightfully whimsical look at the question “what is an Artist?”  It can be read as a picture book, or as an introduction to the process of artistic creativity.  (Penguin, 9780141376387)

“Colours, colours everywhere” by Julia Donaldson and Sharon King-Chai  as we follow the heroine and her pet frog, as the discover colours in the world around the.  This is full of rhyme and lift the flap feature, making a great book to read with the very young.  it will also help in teaching them bout the different colours.  (Two Hoots, 9781529078527)

Templar, 9781800783751

“Henri and the machine” by Isabelle Marinov and Olga Shtonda  shows us what it is like for those who have to visit a gallery (on a school trip), even though they do not understand art and would rather be at the beach.  Henri is bored, so when he sees an exhibit that invites him to sit in a chair, he does so and sets off the most amazing art installation with, lights, sounds and machinery.  A guide then helps him understand the purpose of art and the different ways that we can appreciate it.

“An Artist’s Eyes” by Frances Tosdevin and Clemence Monnet. When Mo and Jo go for a walk, Mo talks about the wonder of colours in the world around us, from the sea to animals and the trees.  Jo cannot see the same images, but as the walk continues that realize that he has found his own magical versions of colours.   (Frances Lincoln, 9780711264861)

“Beware the Blue Bagoo” by Karl Newsom and Andrea Stegmaier .  Once again the wonderful Karl Newson has given us a book full of fun and joy, whilst at the same time making us think about how we view those who are different.  It also makes us think about the prejudice we can have for someone or something that is unknown to us.  (Happy Yak, 9780711267824)

Tate, 9781849767873

“Mildred the gallery cat” by Jono Ganz.  Have you ever wondered what a gallery cat does when everyone has gone home?  Well this charming picture book gives us one version and it is something that will have you all horrified and delighted at the same time.

“Blue” by Sarah Christou is a picture book for the very young reader and aimed at explaining and supporting them when they are feeling sad and depressed; or as we say they are ‘blue’.  It reminds us that colour is used to describe our motions and this can link in to helping children develop empathy and understanding.  (Faber, 9780571376360)

Wayland, 9781526314949

“Masterpieces in Pieces” by Ingrid Swenson and Mary Auld is an excellent introduction to the concept of art interpretation.  It covers works by their themes, from animals and still life, to work and play.  We then get a focus on some of the elements that the artist has focused on.  A great start for those who want to understand the messages behind what they are looking at.

 

 

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Glunda, the Veg Witch by Keith W Dickinson

One of the excellent things about being involved with the Book Bloggers Novel of the Year (2024) is that you get to read stories that would not normally appear on your radar.  As many of you readers will know, I specialize in reading and then writing about books for children.  This is a huge range of materials, from picture books to YA and fiction as well as information works.  It is therefore great to have something that has a sense of familiarity, but which has managed to give an original twist to the work.

This story is set in a magical world, where the normal people live side by side with the Veg Witches and the  Drupe Mages  (wizards) and  depend on the witches to help grow their crops, as well as provide medical care and advice.  The mages, live in a castle and tend to keep away from the locals and they are also not very good at commonsense magic!  The main character is Glunda Ashwillow, who is about to become the current  head witch and Holder of the Golden Key; unfortunately the mages, in the guise of Alar Reave have decided not to hand over the Key (which is shared every six months), but intend to carry out all the magic themselves.  As I am sure you can imagine this turns out to be a recipe for disaster.  The question is whether the mages can be made to see sense, the local farmers can save their crops and the veg witches can get enough food to last the winter?

As I was reading this book, I had the distinct feeling that the author was paying a slight ‘homage’ to the memory of Terry Pratchett’s witches and wizards.  Although the main characters are a lot younger than many of those in the Discworld books, there is a real feeling that Glunda is akin to Tiffany Aching and there was even a hint of a cantankerous Granny Weatherwax.  The fun bit is that Glunda, Alar and a friend called Clum all attended the same school, so knew each other rather well.  This fact opened up all kinds of possibilities and allowed for the sort of verbal in-fighting that had grown since the characters were very young.  From the reader’s point of view it gives the opportunity for lots of humour and the chance to feel that they really need to try and get on.

This is a short book by modern standards, however it does carry the reader along at a fast pace and I think it will be popular with those who do not want a mammoth read.  I do look forward to reading more by the author, as I really liked his quirky sense of humour and the readability of the book.

The author

Born a stone’s throw from the Lake District, Keith studied film making at university before moving to London to work in film and TV. After twenty years of doing other people’s bidding he went around the world, trained as a yoga teacher, rode a camel, got a tattoo he doesn’t regret, and was finally able to publish his first novel, DEXTER & SINISTER: DETECTING AGENTS, something he has dreamed of since he was eight years old and asked for a typewriter for Christmas.

Currently residing in Leeds, when he’s not up a mountain Keith can be found trying to get his foot behind his head. He hasn’t managed it yet, but he’ll get there one day.

Keith has four books out, THE HAMMERSMYTH TALES, a steampunk series that includes two novels and a collection of short stories, and GLUNDA THE VEG WITCH, his first foray into cosy fantasy.

Keith can be found idling on social media at https://x.com/keithwdickinson, https://bsky.app/profile/keithwdickinson.bsky.social, and https://www.instagram.com/keithwdickinson/, and you can find out more about him and his work at https://keithwdickinson.com/ .

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Naeli and the Secret Song by Jasbinder Bilan

The stories of mixed race (sorry if this is an incorrect term) children feel they have often been ignored in the  literary world, at least that was the case until the beginning of this millennium.    Yet it has always been the case that empires have not just conquered, but have also partially integrated with the people that they have overcome.  From the Greeks and Romans to the British and the Americans we have seen the mixing of people and cultures.  In this country we most often hear about what happened in the British Empire, so that the time period tends to be centred around the 19th and early 20th centuries.

In this wonderful and evocative new book by Jasbinder Bilan we are taken from the heat and exoticism of India, to the hustle and bustle of London, where our heroine discovers that danger is lurking in the most unlikely places.  Naeli is the daughter of an Indian mother, who was a famous musician, and a British father, a doctor who was also a very proficient violinist.  Her father had to return to Britain when she was five years old, but now that her mother had died, she does not know hat her future holds.  When a mysterious letter arrives for her, it includes a ticket to England and some money, and so begins her adventure to try and find her missing father.  On the trip to England she makes friends with a young Anglo-Indian boy, who is going back to his school in Westminster.   However, it is when Naeli arrives in England that the real action begins.  After a rather difficult start, Naeli is taken to the home of her uncle, someone she has never heard of, but who seems happy to see her.  Unfortunately, he gradually shows his true colours, and he is not a very nice person.  What follows is a true Victorian melodrama, with kidnap, family secrets and a mysterious and brooding family house in the wilds of Northumberland.

I absolutely love this story of how a young girl copes when her world is quite literally torn apart.  Whilst she remembers her English heritage, she has been brought up in her mother’s world and is having to cope with some really dramatic changes, not least about people treat her.  It is fascinating to see the ways in which class and race are dealt with in this period.  Both Naeli and her new friend Jack are caught between two different worlds.  They are travelling in second class cabins, so not with the returning colonial elite, but not down in third class with the cramped conditions and lower class treatment.  I think the saying  that describes this kind of issue is, “neither fish nor fowl”.  However the central theme of the story is the way that music is at the core of the family’s life and has been for more than a generation.  We gradually become aware that there are some secrets that are being hidden and the wicked uncle thinks that Naeli has the key to unlocking those secrets.  There is a real build up of excitement as we see the two children navigate the dangers surrounding them and try and find those people that they can actually trust.  The finale will have the readers cheering and jumping for joy as mysteries are solved, the villain gets his comeuppance and Naeli is re-united with the most important person in her life.

Jasbinder Bilan

The author was born in northern India, but her family moved to England when she was young.

I am delighted that she attended Bath Spa University and now still lives near Bath.  This makes me think of her as one of my local authors, as I have spent a lot of time working with schools and authors who are based in this area.