Eloise Williams – författare

The discovery of a long-lost carving sparks new friendships and unmasks a villainous plot in this captivating adventure from former Children’s Laureate Wales Eloise Williams. Lily and Tom travel the county with Ma Hawker, enthralling crowds with their amazing collection of curios. Always on the lookout for new wonders, Lily is tricked into buying a worthless bag of rubbish. But hidden within is a special piece of scrimshaw. A young woman called Flora Meriweather is desperate to buy the scrimshaw, hoping it can help her solve a mystery surrounding her late mother. But someone else also wants to get his hands on the scrimshaw and ensure that secrets stay hidden in the past. Can the Curio Collectors help the truth come to light? Particularly suitable for readers aged 9+ with a reading age of 8.

When her parents send her to stay with a grandmother she hardly knows for the summer, Elen is furious. Gran lives on a tiny island and doesn't want her either - it's not an easy start. Gran's idea of childcare is to give Elen a map and tell her to explore. Who is the odd boy on the beach with a puffin? After saving Gran in a storm, Elen finds a picture that she's sure is a clue to hidden treasure. She investigates - and finds a very different treasure from the one she expected.

1899. All Nansi knows is that her mother disappeared on the day she was fished out of Cardiff docks. She can't remember anything else. Now, with no other family to turn to, she works for Sid at the Empire Theatre, sometimes legally, sometimes thieving to order, trying to earn enough money to hire a detective to find her mother. Everything changes when Constance and Violet join the theatre, both with their own dark secrets. Nansi is forced to be part of Violet's crooked psychic act. But it's when Constance recognises her, and realises who her mother must be, that Nansi's world is turned upside down forever. She is soon on the run for her life and she will have to risk everything if she's going to find the truth.

Lark needs a break. Her mother is ill, her sister has stopped speaking and she's fallen out with her best friend. When her family arrives at a caravan site on the windy Welsh coast, she and her little sister rush off to explore. But soon this freedom get frightening. Is there a figure in the fog? What happened at the ruined house in the woods? Why is her sister so fascinated by a girl in a green dress that no one else can see?As the storms get wilder and events get stranger, Lark must face a long-buried secret to try to save her family.

Can she break the curse of the witch called Winter?Being different can be dangerous. Wilde is afraid strange things happen around her. Are the birds following her? Moving to live with her aunt seems to make it worse. Wilde is desperate to fit in at her new school. But In a fierce heatwave, in rehearsals for a school play telling the local legend of a witch called Winter, ‘The Witch’ starts leaving pupils frightening curse letters. Can Wilde find out who’s doing it before everyone blames her? Or will she always be the outsider? Buy the book today and find out!

London, 1601. Honesty, a storyteller seeking fame and fortune, befriends Alice, a maid to Queen Elizabeth I. But can Alice be trusted? A tale of intrigue, scheming and plots set in the spellbinding world of the Elizabethan court. A thrilling adventure where nothing is as it seems.

It’s Christmas 1976 in a small town in South Wales, and eleven-year-old Noni and her dad are hiding from the bailiffs, behind the sofa. There’s no money left and Noni’s dad – who used to fix all the town’s broken things seems to be the most broken thing of all.When Noni meets new friend Rebecca and borrows a library book, she realises that fixing the town’s old mobile library might be the thing to bring a spark back to her dad’s eyes.But the library van is stuck on Mrs Williams’ driveway and has been since the Aberfan disaster ten years earlier. It is broken down beyond repair. Plus, according to the stories, Mrs Williams is a witch (she has a black cat, and she talks to the birds – so Noni is pretty sure this must be true). If Noni is going to have any hope of fixing the van and her dad, she’s going to need some friends to help her.Together with stray dog Jones, Rebecca, young mechanic Clare and milk delivery boy Gareth, the four friends risk Mrs Williams’ wrath and opposition from the town mayor to try and get the library van restarted before the bailiffs come again.But the town is still healing, and many don’t want to see the van return. It’s up to Noni and her friends to show everyone that the joy found in stories can bring them all back together.