The Song of the Lost Boy is the latest novel from Winchester author Maggie Allder. Living in a homeless encampment on the edge of Winchester, Giorgio has become separated from his parents. With great determination, he sets out to find then; unaware of the difficulties he will encounter searching for missing people in a neo-fascist state. Giorgio has only three clues to guide him: his name, a necklace and a half-remembered song. He pursues each of his leads in turn, all the while trying to avoid attracting the attention of the authorities, fearing that they will put him in care if they catch him. Eventually his path leads him to unexpected discoveries, and to a new sort of belonging. With times of difficulty, danger, kindness and love, Giorgio pursues his goal. He meets a host of interesting characters along the way, from Spanner-in-the-Works and the brothers Big Bear and Little Bear, to the Old Man who lives in the copse at the top of the hill, to Vishna, who...

On a stormy winter's night on a remote island in the wild North Atlantic, something draws Marie down to the beach, where she finds a small girl, barely alive. Who is she? How did she come to be there? The mystery grows, because nobody on the island seems to know of a missing child. When Marie meets Malcolm, who is returning to the island after years away, the two team up, and together they try to solve the mystery. Perhaps romance is inevitable, but the discovery of a group of climate refugees, hidden away near one of the most remote beaches, is the last thing the two expect. Nor is it clear how these strangers come to be there, and who is controlling them, or why. In the company of a local police officer and an absurdly young minister of the kirk, the friends unearth the secret of the refugees, and the villains who have held them there for so long. But discovering the truth is not the same as freeing the people, a task that nearly costs them their homes and their...

For the first nine years of her life, she was held in modern day slavery. She saw violence, she knew cold and hunger, she experienced the death of those close to her. It was no life for a child. And now she is free. But freedom isn't so easy to adapt to, and there is so much to learn about life, about friendship, about being loved and valued. Nor can those first years of her life be easily forgotten. There is grieving to do, there are ghosts to be exorcised. Marigold is a quaint mix of wisdom and naivety, a child who has seen too much, but not enough. That she could not settle easily is not surprising, but nobody expected her to run away. Nor is it clear that the man who finds her can be trusted.