BooksforTopics Reading for Pleasure Recommendations
Mystery of the Night Watchers (available here) is a gripping new historical adventure from East Anglia Book of the Year-winner A.M. Howell.
Read on for a review of Mystery of the Night Watchers and then head over to author Ann-Marie’s guest booklist exploring 5 children’s books featuring family secrets and lies.
Review
Book Title: Mystery of the Night Watchers (available here)
Author: A.M. Howell
Illustrator: Saara Soderlund
Publisher: Usborne
Publication Date: 8 July 2021
Most Suitable for: Upper KS2
Reviewed by: Jacqueline Harris
A.M. Howell (author of The Garden of Lost Secrets and The House of One Hundred Clocks) returns with a gripping new historical adventure, set during the Edwardian era.
Nancy and her sister Violet live in Leeds in 1910. Halley’s Comet is coming, and many people wrongly believe the comet means destruction and impending doom. Without warning their mother takes them off to Suffolk to stay with their grandfather they did not know existed. Something very strange is happening and Nancy discovers that her mother has not been honest with her about their past.
Their grandfather lives in a beautiful house with an observatory at the top and an apothecary shop below. But something is not right, and Nancy is determined to find out what is going on and why her mother has apparently lied to her for most of her life.
From the very first page there is tension, and the themes of secrets and lies are continued throughout the book. A M Howell manages to convincingly portray the finer details of the period and deep sense of mystery in what makes a beautifully written, exciting and atmospheric adventure story. It is easy to imagine both the time and the setting (which is based on a real place in East Anglia) and the whole book is vivid with detail. Each chapter is headed with a small picture related to the story, illustrated by Saara Katariina Soderlund, and these are a lovely addition that contribute well to the overall atmosphere of mystery and adventure in the book.
Nancy is an excellent role model as a girl standing up for herself and wanting more for herself than girls from that era were expected to achieve. Over-arching the entire book is the story of Halley’s comet itself; its portrayed brightness and the awe people experience watching it seem to linger through the story like the light from its tail.
This book also features as one of our Summer 2021 Ones to Watch
You can order Mystery of The Night Watchers from Amazon or Bookshop.Org.
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Guest Post
Click here to read author A.M. Howell’s guest booklist featuring 5 favourite children’s books about family secrets and lies.
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You can order Mystery of The Night Watchers from Amazon or Bookshop.Org.
Many thanks to the publishers for sending us a review copy and to Ann-Marie for providing the guest post.
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