Chris Wormell’s The Magic Place is a perfectly imagined tale of woe to wonder. It’s a story about the triumph of the human spirit.

We meet Clementine, a little orphan girl living with her wicked Aunt and Uncle Grimble in a narrow house in the middle of a ‘great black city of smoke and soot and grime’. The Grimbles treat Clementine cruelly. But fortunes turn one ordinary day when an inquisitive boy and a small dog with a nose for smelling out mischief set a pack of dogs and a madding crowd on a chase to hunt down a pair of fraudsters (none other than the wicked Grimbles!). This is a gorgeous story full of whimsical charm that will enchant new readers aged 8+.

Natalie Platten is the assistant manager and children’s book buyer at Readings Doncaster.