It isn’t ten-year-old Pia’s fault that her grandmother dies in a freak accident. But tell that to the citizens of Pia’s little German hometown of Bad Münstereifel, or to the classmates who shun her. The only one who still wants to be her friend is StinkStefan, the most unpopular child in school. But then something else captures the community’s attention: the vanishing of Katharina Linden. Katharina was last seen on a float in a parade, dressed as Snow White. Then, like a character in a Grimm’s fairy tale, she disappears. But, this being real life, she doesn’t return. Pia and Stefan suspect that Katharina has been spirited away by the supernatural. Their investigation is inspired by the instructive—and cautionary—local legends told to them by their elderly friend Herr Schiller, tales such as that of Unshockable Hans, visited by witches in the form of cats, or of the knight whose son is doomed to hunt forever. Then another girl disappears, and Pia is plunged into a new and unnerving place, one far away from fairy tales—and perilously close to adulthood.
Author
Helen Grant (born 1964 in London) is an author of novels for young adults, now based in Scotland. Her first novel, The Vanishing of Katharina Linden, was published by Penguin Books in April 2009.[1] It was shortlisted for the Booktrust Teenage Prize and the CILIP Carnegie Medal. It has also been published in Germany as Die Mädchen des Todes, and has been published in Spain, Holland and the US. Her second novel, The Glass Demon, was published by Penguin in May 2010. It was shortlisted for the ITW Awards Best Paperback Original category. Her third novel Wish Me Dead was published in 2011 and nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal. In addition to her novels for young adults, she has been a regular contributor to the M.R. James Ghosts & Scholars Newsletter. Her short fiction and non fiction have been published in Supernatural Tales, All Hallows and by the Ash Tree Press. She has also provided a new translation of E.T.A. Hoffmann's Das Öde Haus in The Sandman & Other Night Pieces (Tartarus Press). Helen's most recent novels are Silent Saturday (2013), Demons of Ghent (2014) and Urban Legends (2015), which form a trilogy of urbex-themed thrillers. In 2018 Helen's new novel, Ghost, will be published by Fledgling Press. Ghost is the first of Helen's books to be set in Scotland.
