This is a fabulous follow-up to a favourite of mine 'The Accidental Stowaway' and there's even a lovely mention to connect the two stories, which are aimed at readers aged nine years and up. This book is in another era and location and it's a powerfully atmospheric period setting for a rather extraordinary adventure.

It's 1933 and Charley has grown up in the London theatre run by her dad. She loves helping out behind the scenes but longs to be a performer herself one day.

All her hopes and dreams are dashed, though, when her father is called away to look after an old friend and Charley is sent to a boarding school. Life here is tough but when Charley hears that the theatre has been forced to close through her dad's absence, she escapes her school to return home and save the life that she loves.

This is a sophisticated adventure where no one seems to be what they appear. Charley's father himself has a bewildering past - taken from his family as a baby, snatched to order. Plenty of tension and jeopardy in this page-turner.