Lillian Velvet

A Good Housekeeping Best Kids’ Book of 2023

Here are only a few of the wonderful, strange, and mysterious elements in this breathtaking visit to the Kingdoms and Empires: A very proper girl named Lillian Velvet, living a very lonely life with a nasty Grandmother. A jar of coins, each with the power to take Lillian on a journey to a different time and place...and also to grant a single wish. A small boy in a barn about to be crushed to death by a load of hay. A family, each member in mortal danger, who are strangers to Lillian (but whom clever readers will recognize). And a web of dangerous magic closing tight around all. Who IS this Lillian Velvet? And what is her secret?

Only Jaclyn Moriarty has the ability to make readers laugh even while they grip the sides of their chairs in suspense. In The Secret of Lillian Velvet she is at the height of her storytelling powers, spinning, spinning, spinning seemingly disparate elements until all is revealed as one delicious, tantalizing whole.

P R A I S E

★ ＂Readers will have a hard time closing this book... A must-have for any middle grade collection with fantasy lovers, and those who enjoy the likes of Roald Dahl, Neil Gaiman, and Lemony Snicket.＂
--School Library Journal (starred)

★ ＂Enticing... In the nostalgic fantasy novel The Secret of Lillian Velvet, a child gains friendships and fresh insights about herself through extraordinary interdimensional travels.＂
--Foreword Reviews (starred)

＂Absorbingly rich and strange.＂
--Kirkus

＂Sparkles with energy, warm humor, and outrageous metaphors.＂
--Horn Book

Jaclyn Moriarty is the award-winning author of uniquely creative and readable books for adults and young readers including The Year of Secret Assignments, the Colors of Madeleine trilogy, The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone, and The Stolen Prince of Cloudburst. One of the talented and popular Moriarty sisters (including Liane and Nicola), Jaclyn lives in Sydney, Australia. She is very fond of chocolate, blueberries, and sleep.