Thirteens

Eleanor is twelve and has come to Eden Eld to live with her aunt and uncle after a fire took her mother. With her birthday on Halloween approaching, she is hoping for a clean start somewhere new. Then strange things begin to happen. A clock with an ancient face, counting down thirteen hours, turns up outside her bedroom door. A huge black dog with red glowing eyes is seen roaming her school grounds. A storybook of fairy tales she has never seen before nearly falls into her hands, as though it wants to be opened.

Eleanor is not the only one who notices these odd happenings. Her new classmates, Pip and Otto, see them too, and the three discover they were all born on the same Halloween. Drawn together by that and other coincidences, they start digging into a pact that the town made centuries ago with a figure called Mr. January. Every thirteen years, three thirteen-year-olds vanish, given up so the town keeps its luck.

This Halloween Mr. January has returned to claim what he is owed, and Eleanor, Pip and Otto are the chosen offering. Their only chance is to break the curse before the clock reaches thirteen.

This spooky middle-grade story is aimed at younger readers who enjoy eerie small-town mysteries and creepy folklore.