Looking for Emily

Fiona Longmuir's Looking for Emily is a mystery for 11 year olds about a new girl who stumbles on a secret museum all about someone she's never heard of.

What happens

Lily is twelve and furious about moving to Edge. It's a tiny, scruffy seaside town where everyone knows everyone, and she misses the city like mad. She eats her lunch in her English teacher's classroom rather than face the other kids (books are more reliable than people, as far as Lily's concerned).

Then she gets lost. Between two identical white houses she spots a narrow green door, slightly open. At the top of a spiral staircase is a little brass sign. The Museum of Emily.

There's nobody at the desk. Just dust, a bell, and case after case of ordinary things, each with its own careful label. A recipe for apple pie. A lipstick, pinched from someone called Caitlyn. A battered copy of James and the Giant Peach with a bookmark still inside.

Who was Emily? And why would anyone build a museum about her?

Lily isn't the type to let a question like that go. And it turns out she doesn't have to solve it alone. Sam from next door says hello one morning and simply decides they're going to be friends. She's chatty, messy and brilliant, and she knows the library keeps all the town's old records.

It's such a lovely friendship to read. Lily goes from prickly and lonely to arguing theories all the way to school, and she barely notices it happening. Sam's noisy house, with two dads, twin brothers and a daft golden retriever, is a joy.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

Every few chapters the book goes back to Emily herself, and her story starts in a sad place. Her mum's boat has been found empty in a stormy cove, and the police don't think she's coming home. That's how we first meet Emily, not a twist later on. A child who's lost someone might find those chapters hard. For others, Emily's grief sits gently beside Lily's mystery and makes it matter more.

What to read next

If they fall for Edge, with its cliffs, its old lighthouse and its secrets, Freya's Gold is set there too, with a girl, her granny's B&B and a stranger who turns up out of season.