From the bestselling author of Darwin's Dragons comes a high-stakes aquatic adventure, perfect for fans of The Murderer's Ape! England, 1893, and aquarium fever is at its height. Twelve-year-old Vinnie Fyfe works in the tea-shop at Brighton aquarium, and waits for her milliner mother to return from Paris. The arrival of a giant octopus changes her life for ever. Discovering a talent for art, Vinnie begins to draw the extraordinary beast. She soon realises she can communicate with the octopus through colour and - as a gripping mystery begins to unfold - discovers what true courage really means ... The second middle-grade historical adventure by critically acclaimed Lindsay Galvin, author of Darwin's Dragons A gripping Victorian mystery with a touching connection between a young girl and an octopus at its heart Strong STEM and natural history themes with an underwater twist Effortlessly blends exciting adventure with a rip-roaring historical mystery and non-fiction elements PRAISE FOR DARWIN'S DRAGONS: 'A striking and original adventure ... just the sort of story I love.' EMMA CARROLL 'WHAT a voyage! [Darwin's Dragons] is everything you hope it will be ...' LUCY STRANGE '[A] beautifully fictionalised story' THE TELEGRAPH

Wag, an enterprising dog, is unique. He can talk. The family pet strives to keep his secret in a series of adventures with young twins Lucy and Tom during the summer in World War Two. It's Wag who discovers a German airman dangling by his parachute from a tree after his plane is shot down. And he helps recapture the flier following his escape. He and the twins make friends with two teenage French refugees - and later make a startling discovery. Wag comes face-to-face with Winston Churchill, Britain's wartime leader. Tense nights in the family air raid shelter. The drama of an unexploded bomb. Moments of comedy such as when Wag chases a cat into a prison during an outing. The year 1943 ends on a proud note when Wag is presented with a medal by the King in Buckingham Palace...for exposing a Nazi spy.

The days were filled with boating, fishing and exploring. The nights were bonfires and ghost stories, chase games, and night swimming. Parents usually gathered to mix drinks and play cards well into the night. That made it easier for us to play on the large lawn in front of Harman's cabins, usually until late in the cooled night when the dew started to gather and the stars seemed to be so large and bright you could jump and reach them. This is where we usually had bonfires and told ghost stories. Some of my early childhood crushes were sparked with young girls from far away places vacationing at the lake. Some barely knew my name and the rest I only knew as a passing friend and a face across a fire that mesmerized a young heart for a few days during the summer. Those nights and faces are a distant memory now, but will remain a part of me forever. Sometimes while talking with friends about my childhood, I describe how fun-filled mine were and most of it revolved around those special times.

A magical story of snow and stars by Catherine Fisher. The Clockwork Crow is a mysterious gothic Christmas tale set in a frost-bound Victorian country mansion. When orphaned Seren Rees is given a mysterious package by a strange and frightened man on her way to her new home, she reluctantly takes it with her. But what is in the parcel? Who are the Family who must not be spoken of, and can the Crow help Seren find Tom, before the owner of the parcel finds her? The Clockwork Crow is a gripping Christmas tale of families and belonging set in snowy Wales from a master storyteller.

The gates to Frost Hollow Hall loomed before us. They were great tall things, the ironwork all twisted leaves and queer-looking flowers. And they were very definitely shut. Tilly's heart sinks. Will's at the door of their cottage, daring her to come ice-skating up at Frost Hollow Hall. No one goes near the place these days. Rumour has it that the house is haunted . . . Ten years ago the young heir, Kit Barrington, drowned there in the lake. But Tilly never turns down a dare. Then it goes horribly wrong. The ice breaks, Tilly falls through and almost drowns. At the point of death, a beautiful angel appears in the water and saves her. Kit Barrington's ghost. Kit needs Tilly to solve the mystery of his death, so that his spirit can rest in peace. In order to discover all she can, Tilly gets work as a maid at Frost Hollow Hall. But the place makes her flesh crawl. It's all about the dead here, she's told, and in the heart of the house she soon discovers all manner of dark secrets . . . Frost Hollow Hall is a thrilling historical fiction debut. Told in Tilly's unique voice, it is a tale of love and loss, and how forgiveness is the key to recovery.

The first book in Philip Pullman's classic Sally Lockhart quartet in a beautiful new edition. Soon after Sally Lockhart's father drowns at sea, she receives an anonymous letter. The dire warning it contains makes a man die of fear at her feet. Determined to discover the truth about her father's death, Sally is plunged into a terrifying mystery in the dark heart of Victorian London, at the centre of which lies a deadly blood-soaked jewel. Philip Pullman's ever-popular, action-packed Victorian melodramas are rejacketed for the bicentenary of Charles Dickens in 2012. Don't miss Philip Pullman's incredible HIS DARK MATERIALS trilogy, now a thrilling, critically acclaimed BBC/HBO television series.

A thrilling gothic horror novel about biracial twin sisters separated at birth, perfect for fans of Lovecraft Country and The Vanishing Half - now in paperback! Magnolia Heathwood, heiress to a decrepit cotton plantation in Jim Crow's Georgia, was raised to be the perfect southern belle. All her life she's prepared to carry on the family dynasty, but according to her cruel grandmother, she always falls short. When Magnolia finally learns the truth-that she is not white in this segregated land, but mixed race-her reflection vanishes from every mirror: a sign of a terrible curse. And life in Eureka, Georgia is getting stranger every day: The most popular girl in town launches an initiative to segregate the dead in the local cemetery, and white-passing Magnolia doesn't know how much longer she can bear to live a lie. Meanwhile, Charlie Yates, an aspiring Civil Rights organizer from Harlem, is speeding toward Eureka beside her dying grandmother. Nana's last wish is to be buried in the land they fled seventeen years ago, after the brutal murder of Charlie's parents, who were killed for loving across the color line. On a segregated train car, brave Charlie has never felt so powerless. Nana's told her plenty of stories about the cursed town they're headed for-but she's never told her that she left a twin sister, Magnolia, behind. The sisters reunite as teenagers in the deeply haunted town of Eureka, where ghosts linger centuries after their time, and dangers lurk behind every mirror. They couldn't be more different, but they will need each other: to put the hauntings of the past to rest, to break the mirrors' deadly curse-and to discover the meaning of sisterhood in a racially divided land.

'Lush and lavish, Sing Me Forgotten hit all the right notes' Erin A. Craig, New York Times bestselling author of House of Salt and Sorrow 'A deliciously magical feminist twist on the beloved classic The Phantom of the Opera' Kester Grant, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Court of Miracles Isda does not exist. At least not beyond the opulent walls of the opera house. Cast into a well at birth for being one of the magical few who can manipulate memories when people sing, she was saved by Cyril, the opera house's owner. Since that day, he has given her sanctuary from the murderous world outside. All he asks in return is that she use her power to keep ticket sales high-and that she stay out of sight. For if anyone discovers she survived, Isda and Cyril would pay with their lives. But Isda breaks Cyril's cardinal rule when she meets Emeric Rodin, a charming boy who throws her quiet, solitary life out of balance. His voice is unlike any she's ever heard, but the real shock comes when she finds in his memories hints of a way to finally break free of her gilded prison. Haunted by this possibility, Isda spends more and more time with Emeric, searching for answers in his music and his past. But the price of freedom is steeper than Isda could ever know. For even as she struggles with her growing feelings for Emeric, she learns that in order to take charge of her own destiny, she must become the monster the world tried to drown in the first place. 'Enchanting, lush and decadent' Adalyn Grace, author of All the Stars and Teeth Also by Jessica S. Olson: A Forgery of Roses

'I have two weeks. You'll shoot me at the end no matter what I do.' Shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, Code Name Verity is a bestselling tale of friendship and courage set against the backdrop of World War Two. Only in wartime could a stalwart lass from Manchester rub shoulders with a Scottish aristocrat, one a pilot, the other a special operations executive. When a vital mission goes wrong, and one of the friends has to bail out of a faulty plane over France, she is captured by the Gestapo and becomes a prisoner of war. The story begins in 'Verity's' own words, as she writes her account for her captors. Truth or lies? Honour or betrayal? Everything they've ever believed in is put to the test ... Elizabeth Wein is a leading voice in young adult historical fiction. Her novel Rose Under Fire was nominated for the Carnegie Medal and shortlisted for the Costa Award 2014. Fans of The Book Thief and Carmen Reid's Cross My Heart will love this. Look out for Elizabeth's other books Black Dove, White Swan and Rose Under Fire. Elizabeth Wein was born in New York, and grew up in England, Jamaica and Pennsylvania. She is married with two children and now lives in Perth, Scotland. Elizabeth is a member of the Ninety-Nines, the International Organization of Women Pilots. She was awarded the Scottish Aero Club's Watson Cup for best student pilot in 2003 and it was her love of flying that partly inspired the idea for her bestselling, award-winning novel Code Name Verity. 'A remarkable book' Daily Mail