Waiting On Wednesday: The Midnight Hour by Benjamin Read and Laura Trinder

Synopsis (from Chicken House Books):

When Big Ben sounds the stroke of midnight, Emily’s parents vanish.

As an adventurous eleven year old, Emily packs her sandwiches and her hedgehog, Hoggin, and heads into the Midnight Hour. A Victorian London frozen in time, the Midnight Hour is a magical place of sanctuary and of peril dreamt up by children – and inhabited by monsters of legend, creatures of the imagination, and a Postal Service determined to save the day (and night!). To save her mum and dad, Emily must be brave enough to embrace her own inner magic …

Why I can’t wait to read The Midnight Hour:

• The book began as a comic called Night Post about the postal service which comes to life on the stroke of midnight to deliver post to London’s less human inhabitants. Images from the comic have already sold the novel to me. Not only is it a work about ghosts and witches and monsters, the artwork perfectly captures that magic of the small hours, when anything and everything seems possible. 
• Victorian London is a wonderful setting. Although it is well-covered there is always another alleyway to explore or building to visit. It is the perfect backdrop to stories with an underworld, stories of political power and class-division and stories about industry. 
• A hedgehog companion. Enough said. 
• The protagonist’s story is about self-belief and confidence. This character-arc goes so nicely with magic. Sometimes we find it difficult to recognise the magic inside ourselves. 
• The Postal Service sounds intriguing. Are they are resistance movement? If so, what is the biggest threat to the world? Is the threat to the monsters or to the fabric of the world itself? 
• The setting is dreamed up by children. I love stories about temporal worlds and can’t wait to find out how much influence the protagonist might have on her surroundings. Will she be able to change the setting with her own dreams? 

 

The Midnight Hour by Benjamin Read and Laura Trinder

Chicken House Books