Judith Rossell, The Midwatch, Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing, Oct 2024, 320 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk) ISBN 9781761212369
I loved every single thing about middle grade novel The Midwatch. The book’s unique concept is such a great premise for a story and award-winning author-illustrator, Judith Rossell, delivers once again on every front…but where to start in a review to do the book justice?
Stunning illustrations? Absolutely, and there’s something about the combination of the dark blue ink and thick cream pages that just makes the intricately drawn images leap off the page.
A clever twist on the usual ‘unwanted orphan’ trope? For sure! Readers will be as shocked as main character Maggie Fishbone by what the Midwatch Institute for Orphans, Runaways and Unwanted Girls holds in store for its pupils.
Positive female friendships? In spades. How lovely to read a story where little girls are each other’s supporters rather than their enemies.
Jam packed with action and adventure? You bet! The story is a wild ride from first to last page, and full of humour and heart to boot.
When the story begins Maggie Fishbone is banished from an orphanage in a fishing town after “disgracing herself” for pushing a bigger boy into the harbour. The nuns have sent her away to the city to the Midwatch Institute for Orphans, Runaways and Unwanted Girls. Maggie is sure she’s in for a life of drudgery at a school with such a horrid name, but she quickly discovers things aren’t always what they seem at Midwatch.
A monster is stalking the city at night, expensive jewels are going missing, a botanist is kidnapped, and a librarian is attacked with a soup tureen. Very quickly Maggie and her new friends are thrust into an adventure that takes them deep underground, high above the clouds and face to face with danger in many forms.
Set in an alternative 1920s America — around 40 years later than Judith’s best-selling Stella Montgomery series — The Midwatch world is more light-hearted and energetic than the Victorian England of the Stella stories.
The Midwatch is a beautiful story full of endearing child and adult characters, where mysteries abound, and the monsters aren’t too scary. Mayhem threatens to ensue countless times but is always managed in a fun-filled and thoroughly gripping way.
Readers aged 7+ will enjoy this gorgeous hard cover book as much as the Midwatch students enjoy their treats from Mrs Carnaby.
Highly recommended.
Reviewed by Cecile Shanahan
