When Secrets Set Sail

· Hachette UK
5.0
1 review
Ebook
304
Pages
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About this ebook

'Truly unforgettable ... deserves to be read and studied by all' - Onjali Q. Rauf, bestselling author of The Boy at the Back of the Class

Secrets from the past are the keys to the future...if two children can find them. Bold adventure, timely themes and breath-taking writing from award-winning author, Sita Brahmachari.


Usha is devastated when her grandmother Kali Ma passes away. Then straight-talking Imtiaz arrives - her new adoptive sister - and the two girls clash instantly. They both feel lost. That is until Kali Ma's ghost appears...with a task for them.

Immy's and Usha's home is full of history and secrets. Many years ago it was The House of the Ayahs - for those nannies who couldn't return to their Indian homeland - and Kali Ma made a promise she couldn't keep. She can't pass on to the other side until the girls fulfil it.

Today, Usha and Immy's over-worked parents run the house as a home for refugees, but eviction threatens. The precious documents that could save them are lost. As the house slowly fills up with ghosts, that only Usha and Imtiaz can see, the girls realise they have more to save than just one grandmother's ghost.

With help from their new friend Cosmo, Usha and Immy must set off on a quest through London, accompanied by two bickering ghosts, working together to find a series of objects that shine a magical light on their family's past and hold the clues to securing their future.

If they can set the secrets of generations free, will they be in time to save their home?

Endorsed by Amnesty International. *Sita Brahmachari is a World Book Day author for 2021 with gorgeous short story, The River Whale!*

Ratings and reviews

5.0
1 review
Caroline Price
August 20, 2020
When Secrets Set Sail is a truly beautiful, haunting book that brought tears to my eyes more than once. Aimed at children aged 9 to 11 it tells the story of Imtiaz and Ushmi and their search for pieces of a secret which will right wrongs and redress the past. The story's heart lies back in the past where an Englishman met and married an Indian woman whom he loved very dearly. Sadly she died and he was left to return to England with his baby daughter and her Aya. How their story ties in with that of Imtiaz and Ushmi is part of the tapestry that has been so perfectly woven by Sita Brahmachari, a truly wonderful and prize winning author. Exceptional and very, very highly recommended. Publication is on 20 August but you can pre-order it now.
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About the author

Sita Brahmachari won the Waterstones Children's Book Prize with her debut Artichoke Hearts and is one of the most interesting and important voices in children's books today. Tender Earth was awarded an honour by the International Board of Books for Young People, and her most recent novel, Where The River Runs Gold, published to great acclaim in July 2019. Sita's books have been shortlisted for the UKLA Book Award, nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal, and have been translated into many languages around the world. She was the 2015 Booktrust's Writer in Residence and is the current Writer in Residence at Islington Centre for Refugees and Migrants. Sita is also an Amnesty International ambassador. She lives in London with her family.

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