Twelve Minutes to Midnight (Volume 1) (The Penelope Tredwell Mysteries) - Hardcover

Edge, Christopher

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 080758133X ISBN 13: 9780807581339

Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company, 2014

Synopsis

Penelope Tredwell is the feisty thirteen-year-old orphan heiress of Victorian Britain's bestselling magazine, the Penny Dreadful. Her spine-chilling tales―concealed under the pen name Montgomery Finch―are gripping the public. One day she receives a letter from the governor of the Bedlam madhouse requesting Finch's help to investigate the asylum's strange goings-on. Every night at precisely twelve minutes to midnight, the inmates all begin feverishly writing-incoherent ramblings that Penelope quickly realizes are frightening visions of the century to come. But what is causing this phenomenon? In the first book of this smart new series, Penelope is drawn into a thrilling mystery more terrifying than anything she could ever imagine!

About this title

About the Author

Christopher Edge grew up in Manchester, England, where he spent most of his childhood in the local library dreaming up stories, but now lives in Gloucestershire where he spends most of his time in the local library dreaming up stories. Before becoming a writer, he worked as an English teacher, editor, and publisher―any job that let him keep a book close to hand.

From the Inside Flap

Penelope Tredwell, author, editor, and sole proprietor of The Penny Dreadful, Victorian London's bestselling magazine, is called on to solve the mystery of a strange phenomenon occurring in a madhouse.

Reviews

*Starred Review* Thirteen-year-old Penelope Tredwell is the secret author of spine-tingling suspense stories—under the pen name Montgomery Flinch—that thrill the readers of the 1899 London magazine she inherited from her parents. Her imagination, writing skills, and business management of her deceased parents’ pulp monthly are impressive, yet a publicity stunt nearly brings the entire London literary world to a crashing halt after she hires an actor to give a public reading as Flinch. But the stakes rise even higher: after the inmates at Bedlam begin frantic, mysterious automatic writing at 12 minutes to midnight every night, the warden recruits Penelope and the actor posing as Flinch to investigate. The inmates write strange, fractured phrases, such as “Sputnik”; “at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina”; and “the Eagle has landed.” Soon, clever Penelope discovers a plot to poison the inmates of Bedlam with spider venom in order to see the future. As if that were not enough, Penelope and Flinch also manage to rescue H. G. Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, and the entire reading public of London from a villainous young widow and scholar of arachnids. Debut author Edge has created an excellent mystery in a league with Jonathan Stroud’s Bartimaeus, Philip Pullman’s Sally Lockhart, and Eleanor Updale’s Montmorency series. Grades 4-7. --Francisca Goldsmith

Edition details

• Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 080758133X
• ISBN 13: 9780807581339
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256