The Midwatch

(Hardback)

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Description

The biggest children's book of the year!The Midwatch is the long-awaited new middle-grade novel from internationally bestselling authorillustrator Judith Rossell, creator of the multi-award-winning novel Withering-by-Sea.

The city was stuffed full of wickedness, everyone knew that

Banished to the Midwatch Institute for Orphans, Runaways and Unwanted Girls, Maggie Fishbone is sure shes in for a life of drudgery. But she quickly discovers theres more to the Midwatch than meets the eye

The city shimmers with jewels and secrets, and soon Maggie is thrust into an adventure that takes her deep underground, high above the clouds and face to face with danger itself.

Turn the page and prepare to be drawn into a lavishly illustrated world, brimming with mystery, unlikely heroines and an adventure as big as the sky.

PRAISE FORTHE MIDWATCH
Shortlisted for the 2025 Victorian Premiers Literary Awardfor Childrens Literature
Shortlisted for the 2025 Indie Book Awards

Gasp-out-loud brilliant!An absolute treasure of a book.
KATRINA NANNESTAD,bestselling author of We Are Wolves

I was hooked from the beginning ... Move over Lemony Snicket!
KAREN FOXLEE, award-winning author of Lennys Book of Everything

Welcome all treasure-hunters and mystery-solvers to the Midwatch Institute [where] disobedient girls are not to be underestimated!'
AMELIA MELLOR, award-winning author of The Grandest Bookshop in the World

A cracking concept, sensational characters and absolutely smashing pictures: TheMidwatch is the cats pyjamas!
JACLYN MORIARTY, award-winning author of the Kingdoms and Empires series

Cinematic, amusing, and exciting: a slightly subversive, delightfully empowering, all-around winner.
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Absolutely winning adventure tale brimming with awe-inspiring characters.
The Sydney Morning Herald

Reviews

Gasp-out-loud brilliant!An absolute treasure of a book.
KATRINA NANNESTAD,bestselling author of We Are Wolves

I was hooked from the beginning ... Move over Lemony Snicket!
KAREN FOXLEE, award-winning author of Lennys Book of Everything

Welcome all treasure-hunters and mystery-solvers to the Midwatch Institute [where] disobedient girls are not to be underestimated!'
AMELIA MELLOR, award-winning author of The Grandest Bookshop in the World

A cracking concept, sensational characters and absolutely smashing pictures: TheMidwatch is the cats pyjamas!
JACLYN MORIARTY, award-winning author of the Kingdoms and Empires series

Cinematic, amusing, and exciting: a slightly subversive, delightfully empowering, all-around winner.
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Judith Rossell has created a marvellous adventure mystery accompanied by atmospheric illustrations that make TheMidwatchan appealing package for ages 9 to 12. Readings

The Midwatchis an engrossing story with all the elements of a modern classic perfect for young readers who love to be transported to another era. ABC News

Absolutely winning adventure tale brimming with awe-inspiring characters. The Sydney Morning Herald

Judith writes with heart and humour, never losing control of her intricate web of events. Her illustrations complete the package, creating a detailed immersive world for her readers to revel in. Storylinks

Author Bio

Judith Rossell is the multi-award-winning author-illustrator of the bestselling Stella Montgomery series(Withering-by-Sea,Wormwood MireandWakestone Hall). Judith has written fifteen books and illustrated more than eighty. Her work has been published in the US and UK, and translated into more than twenty languages. She has been a Writer in Residence in Heidelberg, Germany, and run illustration workshops with children around the world. She teaches at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and the Australian Writers'Centre.She lives in Melbourne, Australia.