Kate Tranter is fatherless - or is she? The evidence of the tombstone she finds in the churchyard seems conclusive. And yet... The tombstone disappears and Kate is left with a mystery about which her family either knows nothing or will tell nothing. Her search for the truth leads her to Sattin Shore: and the way to Sattin Shore turns out to be a way into the past. Her two elder brothers, her grandmother, her new friend Anna and her missing father all have a part to play in Kate’s search to fit the jigsaw pieces of past and present to find a new picture for the future.

‘The rope hung from top to bottom of his dream. The rope hung softly, saying nothing, doing nothing. Then the rope began to swing very softly, very gently... towards him.’The need to face your fears; the comedy of family life; the pressure of others’ expectations… Intense experiences of childhood are vividly brought to life in these eight atmospheric tales.A gripping collection of short stories from award-winning author Philippa Pearce.

When Bet is first asked to go into the meadow to read aloud - apparently to no one - she wonders why. To her surprise, her audience is a little mole. But no ordinary mole. This is a mole who can speak, is over 300 years old, and has an incredible tale to tell. So begins an enchanting tale of deep secrets, extraordinary magic, and beautiful friendship between Bet and the Little Gentleman in Black Velvet.

With her awful secondhand uniform and stuck-up classmates, Binny's new school is horrible. And life gets even worse when a storm damages the roof of her house, forcing Binny and her family to move to the countryside whilst it's being fixed. Binny; her sensible older sister, Clem; and her rambunctious brother, James (and his chickens) begin adjusting to life in the country. Then one of James' beloved chickens vanishes, and Binny finds strange footprints in the mud. What kind of creature is lurking in the undergrowth?

When Father is taken away unexpectedly, Roberta, Peter, Phyllis and their mother have to leave their comfortable life in London to go and live in a small cottage in the country. The children seek solace in the nearby railway station and make friends with Perks the Porter and the Station Master himself. Each day, Roberta, Peter and Phyllis run down the field to the railway track and wave at the passing London train, sending their love to Father. Little do they know that the kindly old gentleman passenger who waves back holds the key to their father's disappearance.

There used to be an empty chair at the back of my class, but now a new boy called Ahmet is sitting in it. He's nine years old (just like me), but he's very strange. He never talks and never smiles and doesn't like sweets - not even lemon sherbets, which are my favourite! But the truth is, Ahmet really isn't very strange at all. He's a refugee who's run away from a war. A real one. With bombs and fires and bullies that hurt people. And the more I find out about him, the more I want to be his friend.

No one can fail to be captivated by the swashbuckling piracy of Treasure Island. Having outwitted a band of pirates to obtain a map disclosing the whereabouts of Captain Flint's treasure, Young Jim sets sail for Treasure Island. But the crew of the Hispaniola are not what they seem. Revealing themselves as another gang of cut throats, led by the villainous Long John Silver, they are hell-bent on seizing both the ship and the treasure. Will they succeed?

A rather mysterious old clergyman is dead, and his daughter, 16-year-old Athene is desolate. A beauty, she is also lonely and living a fantasy life. Athene’s mother dispatches her to spend the holidays with assorted friends and relatives. And for Athene that golden summer after the funeral becomes delicious fodder for her fantasy.

Told from four-year-old Laura's point of view, this story begins in 1871 in a little log cabin on the edge of the Big Woods of Wisconsin. Laura lives in the little house with her pa, her ma, her sisters Mary and Carrie, and their trusty dog, Jack. Pioneer life is sometimes hard for the family, since they must grow or catch all their own food as they get ready for the cold winter. But it is also exciting as Laura and her family celebrate Christmas with homemade toys and treats, do the spring planting, bring in the harvest, and make their first trip into town.

For Omri, it is a dream come true when the plastic American Indian he locks into the old cupboard comes to life. Little Bull is everything an Indian brave should be - proud, fearless and defiant. But being in charge of a real, live, human being is a heavy responsibility, as Omri soon discovers. And when his best friend, Patrick, is let in on the secret, he soon realises that life-changing decisions lie ahead.

When a stray dog walks into a sleepy Chiltern village, she touches the lives of many people there, but can she help the recently widowed Alfie Ellis, who has been living a kind of half life since the loss of his wife of 43 years?

Clarence and Bernadette Malcolm have come five thousand miles in search of prosperity, but find the Mother Country not at all as has been promised them; Solly and Dora Lazarus, too, are strangers in a strange land, struggling to belong even as they try to make sense of their past; and Michael and Mary Lockhart take with both hands all that the world owes them, wherever it leads them, whatever the cost.

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Heidi by Johanna Spyri, read by Gemma Whelan. Little Heidi goes to live with her grandfather in his lonely hut high in the Alps, and she quickly learns to love her new life. But her strict aunt decides to send her away again to live in the town. Heidi cannot bear being away from the mountains and is determined to return to the happiness of life with her grandfather.

When Babe, the little orphaned piglet, is won at a fair by Farmer Hogget, he is adopted by Fly, the kind-hearted sheep-dog. Babe is determined to learn everything he can from Fly. He knows he can't be a sheep-dog. But maybe, just maybe, he might be a sheep-pig.

What if you had the chance to live your life again and again, until you finally got it right? During a snowstorm in England in 1910, a baby is born and dies before she can take her first breath. During a snowstorm in England in 1910, the same baby is born and lives to tell the tale. What if there were second chances? And third chances? In fact an infinite number of chances to live your life? Would you eventually be able to save the world from its own inevitable destiny? And would you even want to?