The Midnighters by Hana Tooke

I'm delighted to be part of the blog tour for this book which was just released on 23rd June. First of all we must take a moment to admire the cover, 'Welcome to the Midnight Guild' written on the back makes the book even more intriguing than it already was, but the real beauty in on the inner cover which was a lovely surprise!

Book Summary

Find the courage to be extraordinary . . .

Ema Vašková has always felt different. In a family of famous scientists, there's not much room for superstition or omens - but they seem to follow Ema wherever she goes. It doesn't help that she appears to predict events before they happen, and has a peculiar fear of shadows . . . When Ema is sent to stay with her eccentric uncle in Prague, she fears she'll lose the chance to ever fit in. But then she meets Silvie - a girl who finally sees Ema for the extraordinary person that she is. Soon the girls are meeting for secret midnight adventures, and facing Ema's fears together. But then disaster strikes. Silvie goes missing - and it's up to Ema to find her. Now she must gather the courage to hunt the city, find her friend, and uncover the secrets of the one clue Silvie left as to where she might be - inside the mysterious Midnight Guild . . .

Poor Ema, she's so misunderstood! She KNOWS she can feel things that are going to happen and yet no one believes her. Her family is full of logical scientists and there's no room for hunches and feelings. Most of the time, people don't even notice that she is in front of them till she speaks.

Sylvie is a complete mystery, she seems like she's escaped from a circus, but she has plenty of secrets of her own. When they meet, Sylvie helps Ema begin to face her fears but then she disappears and Ema has to face everything that's ever scared her in order to find and rescue Sylvie. In her search, Ema looks for clues that Sylvie may have left her, and discovers The Midnight Guild. It sounded marvellous when I first heard of it,  but then seemed like it could actually be quite sinister. There's lots of magical adventure and mystery and the descriptions of Prague made me want to visit.

There's a treat at the end of the book as the epilogue is wonderful, I really enjoyed it. But don't try to skip ahead, it won't make sense until you've read the rest of the book!

Author Bio

Hana Tooke grew up near Amsterdam, in a house filled with peculiar clocks and a head filled with a peculiar imagination. She's been a singer, a teacher, and even a mad-scientist, but these days she spends her days writing stories, sculpting puppets, and collecting curiosities. She lives in Bath with two humans a cat and a skeleton marionette.

Hana’s debut novel, The Unadoptables, was one of the bestselling middle-grade books of 2020. You can find her on Instagram

To make the Stroke of Midnight cocktail, pour 30ml Cointreau and 5ml grenadine into a champagne flute, then top with champagne.