AustLit

'Hello, my name is Martha Grimstone. Shall I tell you my best secret? One day I'm going to be Lady Martha the Magnificent. I don't know what my special talent is, but I hope to find it any day now. I live in a grand old house in a valley full of rare and precious herbs, which my grandfather uses to heal and comfort people. But they haven't worked on Mama; she cries a lake of tears every night. If only I could get into Grandpa Grimstone's apothecary and work my very own spell!

'Hatched is a gothic fairytale about a girl who keeps her secrets safe between two pieces of cardboard, a mother who sews garments lined with love, and a giant egg that seems to take forever to hatch.' (From the publisher's website.)

'Hello, I'm Martha Grimstone, and at last I'm here in the big city attending the Queen's Music Academy, where so many famous musicians made their beginnings.

'I have my very own wing at Lady Sterling's manor, and I'm excited beyond words, for soon I'll learn how to use my music to turn back the storms that threaten my valley. I simply cannot wait for my teachers to show me all I need to know. But why won't they let me play my own compositions...?

'The Grimstones: Music School is a gothic fairytale about a new friend with the wrong name, a family of uncooperative bats, and what happens when a school of very great tradition encounters all the four seasons in one day.' (Publisher's blurb)