Author & Illustrators

Emma Carroll Books

Emma Carroll is a children’s author often dubbed the “queen of historical fiction“. A former secondary English teacher for many years, Carroll blends her passion for history with gripping and ‘dangerous’ storytelling, making the past feel real and exciting for young readers.

Some of Emma Carroll’s most popular titles include Letters from the Lighthouse, Secrets of a Sun King, Sky Chasers and The Somerset Tsunami.

Several of Emma Carroll’s books for children have achieved recognition, with nominations for numerous book awards including the Books Are My Bag Readers’ Award, the Branford Boase Award, the CILIP Carnegie Medal and the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize.

Emma Carroll’s books are best suited for readers aged 9-12 (Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3), offering narratives that transport children to different eras, from popular curriculum periods of study like World War 2 (Letters from the Lighthouse) and Ancient Egypt (Secrets of a Sun King) to lesser-covered but equally interesting points in history like the Cold War (A Week at World’s End) and the roaring twenties (The Houdini Inheritance).

Common themes through Emma Carroll’s stories include courage, female empowerment, friendship, social justice and the resilience of young people in challenging times. Others explore the link between the past and the present, with some of her books connecting subplots from very different time periods, like Secrets of a Sun King and The Tale of Truthwater Lake. Some of Carroll’s more recent works revisit well-known literary worlds, such as Escape to the River Sea, The Little Match Girl Strikes Back and Dracula & Daughters.

Emma Carroll’s historical children’s books are consistently featured on recommended reading lists for schools, including various BooksForTopics selections for KS2 historical fiction, books about World War Two, Y7 Recommended Reads, Victorians booklist and best books for 11-year-olds.

If you’re searching for engaging historical fiction, thrilling mysteries or well-researched children’s books for 9-12-year-olds, explore the works of Emma Carroll.

Author website: https://emmacarrollauthor.wordpress.com/

If you are new to Emma Carroll’s stories for children, we recommend The Tale of Truthwater Lake as a great book to start with.

Dracula & Daughters

Emma Carroll

Chapter book

This is the start of a new gothic adventure series, in which three cousins who are descendants of Dracula form a vampire healing company.

In true Emma Carroll fashion, this story has the reader on tenterhooks throughout, with chases through the dark streets of Temstown, the spine-tingling threat of attack from vengeful creatures and the need for the three brave heroines to complete their dangerous mission before the new moon deadline.

It’s all the more gripping because the identity of trustworthy good guys and shifty villains is obscured. What’s more, as the plot thickens, the readers’ perception only gradually clears, spotting connections between different characters. The way Carroll weaves numerous strands together is extremely satisfying: there’s the scene-setting, which has the reader picturing London in the late 19th Century; the kinship felt by the main characters; the power plays of ambitious, dangerous men; and the knowledge that might lead to both cure and restoration for the wronged.

This is a book that will be devoured by those with an appetite for gruesome fantasy with a historical flavour. Librarians will not need to recommend it for copies to quickly fly off the ‘horror’ shelf.

The Little Match Girl Strikes Back

Emma Carroll & Lauren Child

Chapter book

The Little Match Girl Strikes Back reimagines the traditional ‘Little Match Girl’ story and sheds light on the rich-poor divide in Victorian London.

The story is written in the first person with Bridie talking to the reader about her experiences selling matches on the street to support her ill mother. Bridie understands that there is massive inequality in her home city and can see how the rich people around her are made richer by exploiting their poorer neighbours. Author Emma Carroll conveys this in a way that is accessible for younger readers to understand and engage with.

The story is filled with stark black, white and red illustrations which are unmistakably Lauren Child but are far from the light-hearted images we associate with the artist. The book would be a perfect class novel to support ‘Victorians’ topics and would be suitable for KS2 upwards.

The Houdini Inheritance

Emma Carroll

Chapter book

Emma Carroll needs no introduction, known, as she is as the queen of historical fiction for children. This thrilling adventure brings to life the biography of world-famous escape artist, Harry Houdini, for a young audience.

The story is told through the eyes of Glory, who, with her friend, Dennis, is an avid follower and fan of the enigmatic magician. When Houdini comes to perform in the small seaside town they call home, they are desperate to see him. However, when their wish comes true, in the most embarrassing of ways, they discover that Harry is in danger and his trunk full of trade secrets is the subject of great interest from his rivals. Entrusted with the precious suitcase, and pursued by Houdini’s enemies, Glory and Dennis must escape across the ocean and to Coney Island to restore the trunk to its rightful owner before it is too late.

In this sparkling story, I particularly enjoyed the portrayal of the friendship between Glory and Dennis, and the inter-generational bond between the children and Dennis’s grandmother, who abandons the safety of home and sets out intrepidly across the seas in the role of responsible adult. There are instances of seances in the book. Readers will also enjoy the diversity of characters in the book, and the exploration of the circus as an environment where people unaccepted in society in the 1920s could find a family and a sense of belonging.

As always, Emma Carroll’s writing and storytelling are perfect; never showy and always superbly crafted. Carroll excels at taking the accepted and weaving it into something quite unexpected. Excellent for Year 5 and Year 6 readers with or without an interest in history or escape artistry – if they don’t have the interest already, reading Emma Carroll will kindle it!

Sky Chasers

Emma Carroll

Chapter book

Prepare to be swept up, up and away on this high-flying adventure from the queen of historical fiction, Emma Carroll!

Orphan Magpie can’t believe her eyes when she sees a boy swept off his feet by a kite … or something that twists and dances in the wind.

Like her, the boy – Pierre – dreams of flying over the rooftops of Paris. His family, the Montgolfiers, are desperate to be first to discover the secret of flight.

The world looks so different up high and suddenly Magpie knows what she wants – to be the first to fly in a balloon above the King and Queen of France …

From the bestselling historical fiction author of books including Secrets of a Sun King, When We Were Warriors and Letters from the Lighthouse

Discovery meets imagination in this rich and inspirational tale based on the true story of the first hot air balloon flight over Paris in the eighteenth century

An enchanting story of history, adventure, science and facing your fears.

The Tale of Truthwater Lake

Emma Carroll

Chapter book

Emma Carroll never fails to disappoint. The Tale of Truthwater Lake is a gripping and fast paced adventure story, set in part, in the future and in part in the past.

The story revolves around Polly and her brother, Joel who are growing up in 2032 when climate change is causing a prolonged summer heatwave, with daily government warnings sent to warn people to stay indoors. The children live with their parents in a small flat in Brighton and are sent away to their aunt’s house in the country for a few weeks in the summer holiday – although not before Polly has to be rescued by her brother from a late night swim resulting in some online bullying.

Their aunt, Jessie lives by a reservoir but in the drought, it has shrunk to reveal the village, Syndercombe that was flooded in the 1950’s to enable the flooded valley to become a reservoir. What ensues is a story of time travel, with Polly being transported back in time (through the magic of 2 AM swims and an old door handle) to the weeks before the flooding of the village. Polly inhabits the life of Nellie, a young orphan with great ambition. Nellie, is a fabulous swimmer and dreams of swimming the English Channel, but her chance is taken away by a young boy called Nate, who is the son of the man brought in to organise the evacuation and flooding of the village.

There are so many twists and turns of this adventure, with friendship, bullying, the climate, old age and even parenting, making it a story to read rather than describe! Emma Carroll paints a real and vivid picture of each character and scene and evokes empathy, excitement and suspense in every chapter.

The story reaches an exciting climax when Nellie does in fact swim the Channel and is a real page turner in the build-up, swim and aftermath of her achievement. Emma Carroll is a master of happy endings – tying up loose ends, resolving all of the problems raised in the story and by bringing together estranged characters. This is a great book for an upper KS2 primary classroom.

The Ghost Garden

Emma Carroll & Kaja Kajfez

Chapter book, Dyslexia-friendly

The queen of historical fiction has done it again! Emma Carroll’s short story about an unlikely friendship and a ghostly garden set in the days before World War One is a mysterious tale that fans of hers will thoroughly enjoy.

Fran lives and works in the grounds of Longbarrow House, where she makes a discovery that deeply unsettles her. The opening line of the book, ‘Fran found the bone in the potato patch’ is a sign of the intriguing story to come.

When Leo, grandson of the owner of Longbarrow House, breaks his leg minutes after Fran’s garden fork breaks the bone in the potato patch, Fran is worried that the two incidents are connected. Further strange coincidences occur and Fran becomes increasingly concerned.

When Leo returns from hospital, Fran is tasked with keeping him company and the two children become friends. Leo is worried about the threat of impending war in Europe and Fran is concerned about the strange coincidences. Together, they explore Longbarrow House and discover the secrets the estate has been hiding. The story edges the reader along and brings tension and suspense with it.

The Ghost Garden is an insight into the lives of children on the eve of World War One. The story reveals details about the daily lives of both the privileged and not so privileged in 1914. We discover their anxieties about (and hopes for) the future and realise that the two children have more similarities than differences when it comes to facing the prospect of war. A short read with dyslexia-friendly text, this is another treat for those readers who enjoyed Letters from the Lighthouse and When We Were Warriors.

Escape to the River Sea

Emma Carroll

Chapter book

In 1946, Rosa Sweetman, a young Kindertransport girl, is longing for her family to claim her. The war in Europe is over and she is the only child left at Westwood, a rambling country estate in the north of England, where she’d taken refuge seven years earlier.

The arrival of a friend of the family, Yara Fielding, starts an adventure that will take Rosa deep into the lush beauty of the Amazon rainforest in search of jaguars, ancient giant sloths and somewhere to belong. What she finds is Yara’s lively, welcoming family on the banks of the river and, together, they face a danger greater than she could ever have imagined.

Featuring places and characters known and loved by fans of Journey to the River Sea (including, among others, Maia, Finn, Miss Minton and Clovis) this spectacular new chapter in the story tells of the next generation and the growing threats to the Amazon rainforest that continue to this day.

The Week at World’s End

Emma Carroll

Chapter book

1962 – London during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

What would you do if there was a real possibility that the world might end?

Ray, aware of his parents’ building worry, decides to take matters into his own hands. He builds a shelter in the woods behind his house in the hope that he never has to use it. Only to discover that someone else needs it more than he does. An American girl, reported missing, has turned up there…

Why is she hiding? And with neighbour turning against neighbour, will Ray be willing to help her?

Set over the six days when the Cuban Missile Crisis became public knowledge, this tense, clever thriller might just be Emma Carroll’s best book yet!

The Somerset Tsunami

Emma Carroll

Chapter book

A sinking boat. A girl in disguise. A disappearing sea.

When Fortune Sharpe carves a boat from a tree with her beloved brother, Gem, she’s only having a bit of fun. But now is not the time for a girl to be drawing attention to herself. She is sent away to find work dressed as a boy. Luckily a rich manor house is hiring.

Yet Berrow Hall’s inhabitants harbour dangerous secrets of their own, the suspicious owner is hunting for witches, and the house itself is a little too close to the sea.

Letters from the Lighthouse

Emma Carroll

Chapter book

This delightful chapter book is an excellent text for encapsulating experiences of World War II from the viewpoint of children. It tells the moving story of Olive and her brother Cliff as they leave the heavily bombed streets of London and become evacuees on the coast of Devon, sent to live with an enigmatic lighthouse keeper. Soon Olive finds herself caught up in a dark mystery linking the disappearance of her sister Sukie with a strangely coded message.

Letters from the Lighthouse is an incredibly empathetic story that not only portrays the hardships of life during the war but also poignantly explores the anguishing encounters of refugees looking for safety in new places while carrying with them the heartbreak of leaving a war-torn home behind. We highly recommend this story for upper KS2 classrooms.

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