The English seaside, 1920s

A world famous escape artist . . .
A suitcase full of secrets . . .
And a death-defying stunt . . .

When Harry Houdini comes to visit the seaside town of Sidford-on-Sea, Glory and her friend Dennis are first in-line to see him. He is there to perform a daring trick: he will jump off the town pier in chains, pitching himself into the water below. But when Glory outsmarts the infamous Houdini, she is suddenly sucked into his world, and finds herself tasked with looking after his precious trunk – the one that contains all his secrets.

With Houdini in danger, Glory and Dennis are thrown deep into an adventure that takes them all the way to Coney Island in America, and the dark underbelly of its amusement parks . . .

I wish Emma Carroll had been an author when I was a young girl, I probably would have devoured her books even more than I do now. There is such warmth to her writing, her world’s are immersive, blending fact and fiction seemlessly.

This book is set in 1926. It involves Harry Houdini, a trip to Ameria, a missing dog, and a case of coincidences that two children simply cannot ignore.

The story is told from the POV of Glory who starts out being skeptical of escapists and eager for the answers of how it is done but quickly becomes focused on the adventure, working everything out and racing to the finish line.

Along for the ride is her best friend Dennis, his Granny Vic, his mum Shula, her mum and her sister Effie.

I was dog sitting when I read this. The dog I was looking after had a lot of zoomies and knew exactly how to tell me I wasn’t giving her enough attention So, the fact that I was able to finish reading this speaks volumes!

This was such an interesting read, both as a story concept and in its ability to move the reader from reality to escapism. Harry Houdini was, one of the great escapologists, that’s an undisputed fact. It is perfectly reasonable that he would have rivals and enemies – I just never put much thought into that.

There were two narratives in this book, the main narrative and what I would call the ‘counter-narrative’ the one set up to mislead the reader with twists, turns, and red herrings. They both collide with each other, of course, but create a mesmerising scene to captivate the audience.

I’ve never had any issue with Emma Carroll, I read one of her books as a flyaway choice back in 2019 and have been enamoured with her writing ever since. I think there is always a little ‘push pull’ narrative with an adult reading a child’s book. Some people just don’t understand the appeal of reading a child’s book as an adult while others will question the adult for reading a book that is ‘not for them’.

I generally ignore these comments – even when they come from friends and family! – a book is a book and whether I get enjoyment out of it or not is the business of no one but me. I enjoy the calm and the innocent adventure often found in the 9-12 reading section. As I read a lot of crime thrillers and heady spicy romance books, the palette cleanser for me, is this ‘child’ reading section and I get a lot of joy out of it.

I have never had a bad word to say about Emma Carroll’s books and I still don’t. I loved reading this.