Book excerpt: Step into the past in this spine-tingling historical adventure from award-winning author Christopher Edge. Penelope Tredwell is the feisty thirteen-year-old orphan heiress of the bestselling magazine, The Penny Dreadful. Her masterly tales of the macabre are gripping Victorian Britain, even if no one knows she's the author. It's 1902. London is looking forward to the new King's coronation and ignoring the threat of war from across the sea... Penelope Tredwell, is cursed with writer's block. She needs a sensational new story or her magazine, The Penny Dreadful, will go under. So when a mysterious letter arrives, confessing to an impossible crime, Penny thinks she has found a plot to enthral her readers: the theft of the Crown Jewels by the diabolical Black Crow. Ghostly apparitions, kidnap and treason - this is the stuff of great stories. But what if it's all true? Spine-tingling historical adventure series with a supernatural twist! From the acclaimed author of The Many Worlds of Albie Bright and The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day. Related discussion notes and activity ideas available on the Nosy Crow website.