In a nutshell: upstairs downstairs time-slip adventure | Evie is feeling sorry for herself. Her mum has – selfishly in Evie’s opinion - gone on honeymoon with her new husband leaving Evie with a godmother she hardly knows. Her godmother lives in a flat, part of an old mansion house and Evie’s room seems haunted by the ghost of a girl with a sad story to tell. When Evie finds herself back in time and working as a lowly house maid she gets the opportunity to help the ghost. In the process she learns lots too about the ordinary lives of children the same age as her who had to work as servants in Victorian England. Beautifully told this is a thrilling story and will grip young readers; like Evie, they may see their own lives differently by the story’s conclusion too.
The Editor at Nosy Crow says: “There’s so much to love about this book. It’s spine-tingling, moving, funny and heartbreaking – a real rollercoaster ride!
Compelling period fiction for 9+ readers from the Waterstones Children's Prize shortlisted Helen Peters. Evie couldn't be angrier with her mother. She's only gone and got married again and has flown off on honeymoon, sending Evie to stay with a godmother she's never even met in an old, creaky house in the middle of nowhere. It is all monumentally unfair. But on the first night, Evie sees a strange, ghostly figure at the window. Spooked, she flees from the room, feeling oddly disembodied as she does so. Out in the corridor, it's 1814 and Evie finds herself dressed as a housemaid. She's certain she's gone back in time for a reason. A terrible injustice needs to be fixed. But there's a housekeeper barking orders, a bad-tempered master to avoid, and the chamber pots won't empty themselves. It's going to take all Evie's cunning to fix things in the past so that nothing will break apart in the future... Absorbing, brilliant storytelling from the author of The Secret Hen House Theatre, The Farm Beneath the Water and The Jasmine Green Series for younger readers.
Helen Peters grew up on an old-fashioned farm in Sussex, surrounded by family, animals and mud. She spent most of her childhood reading stories and putting on plays in a tumbledown shed that she and her friends turned into a theatre. After university, she became an English and Drama teacher. Helen lives with her husband and children in London, and she can hardly believe that she now gets to call herself a writer.
Read more about Helen Peters on writing Anna at Warhere.
