Jake' s dad is away and his pregnant mum is in hospital, so his granny is looking after Jake - or so they think. But Gran has changed. She tends to be dazed or confused, fills Jake' s sandwiches with strange combinations of food, leaves the cooker on, and wanders down the road in her nightie in the middle of the night. Jake doesn' t want to worry his parents, so he tries to look after Gran himself. But help comes from a mysterious quarter, in the form of a strange, ghostly girl called Verity.

Birth, death, and the rites of passage in family life that connect them are beautifully portrayed through the eyes of a young teenage boy.

This book has been graded for interest at 9-12 years.

There are 208 pages in this book. This book was published 2012 by Frances Lincoln Publishers Ltd .

Rosemary Hayes has written numerous books for children, many of which have been shortlisted for awards. She worked for Cambridge University Press and ran her own small educational publishing company, Anglia Young Books, specializing in curriculum-related historical fiction. She is currently a reader for a well known authors' advisory service and also runs creative writing workshops.