Catherine Norton, The fortune maker, HarperCollins Publishers, August 2023, 320 pp., RRP $22.95 (hbk), ISBN 9781460763155
London 1913 and 12-year-old Maud Mulligan lives in a London slum with her father. Both have dreams of escaping to Australia, but when her home sinks in the mud and her father drowns, Maud is on her own. She is also a seer… someone who can foretell the future. In a tunnel, under the river, fortune tellers predict the future for a few pennies. Maud joins them and hopes to make enough money to lift her out of her terrible state but is confused and disturbed by the images of war and ruin that keep recurring. When she appears in a foretelling by a famous seer to the king, Mr Mandalay, for a wealthy factory heiress, it is believed that Maud can save the heiresses family from financial ruin. But how?
Set against the backdrop of the suffragette movement, highlighting the cruel gap between rich and poor, and the looming shadow of the upcoming Great War, this is a fascinating look at history from a child’s point of view, focussing on the often forgotten women and children of the time.
Recommended for middle grade readers who love action, adventure, and historical fiction.
Reviewed by Deborah Abela
