THE MIDNIGHT HOUR

(Chicken House Books €9.79) OUTSPOKEN Emily isn’t the easiest of children and clashes repeatedly with her bohemian, eccentric mother, Maeve, who creates bizarre art.

But when Maeve claims she’s going to visit her estranged family for an emergency and doesn’t return, and then Dad disappears, Emily sets out alone to track them down. Alone, that is, except for a hedgehog . . .

She knows only that her father works at the Night Post near Big Ben, but when she gets there — escaping a very frightening man who chases her all the way — she discovers that London is frozen at midnight in the Victorian era. The Night Post, operated by a selection of weird and wonderful staff, actually delivers messages between the Day Folk and the Night Folk — peopled by monsters and magic.

In a gripping and genuinely menacing narrative, Emily discovers what links her family to the Midnight Hour — and must find out whether she can rescue them from the other world.