Edwin really doesn't want to be a big brother. Forced to move house, start a new school and make way for this unwelcome interloper in his parents' affections, he feels like everything is chaos. But things might not be as bad as he fears, as Edwin makes an unusual pen-pal, Lanthorne, who introduces him to a strange world filled with dark secrets and thrilling adventures. This excitement seems safe until those secrets and adventures start to intrude on Edwin's life and, more worryingly, on the life of his baby sister. Can Edwin and Lanthorne work together to save Mandoline from the evil Aunt Necra? And can they figure out why Lanthorne's family is so divided, and what the terrible secret is that so many people seem to know all about but refuse to share with Edwin?

 

There are 288 pages in this book. This book was published 2019 by Pushkin Children's Books .

Gerald Killingworth is a playwright with numerous productions on the London 'fringe'. After reading English at Cambridge, he became a teacher, spending some years at schools in Greece before returning to Britain. He is now the Head of English at a school in Surrey. He has written several novels for adults and children, but this is his first to be published. He also enjoys British folklore and folk singing and is the Secretary of the Greensleeves Morris Men who are based in Wimbledon where he lives. Chris Priestley, author of Jail-breaker Jack (Hodder), Dog Magic (Transworld, shortlisted for the Children's Book Award) and My Story: Battle of Britain (Scholastic).