The Wishing Game

Lucy Hart is twenty-six and works as a teacher's aide. Her own childhood was neglected, and the Clock Island books by Jack Masterson were what carried her through it. Masterson is a reclusive children's author who stopped writing years ago for reasons nobody knows, and he has now finished a new book.

Only one copy exists. He invites four contestants to his island home, the real-life Clock Island, to compete for it. Lucy has a private reason to want it badly: she hopes to adopt Christopher, an orphaned boy in her class, and the prize is her best chance of giving them both a settled life.

On the island she faces ruthless book collectors and sharp-witted fellow fans. She also has to keep her head around Hugo Reese, the series' illustrator, who is grumpy and very good-looking, and whose pull she tries to resist. Masterson, meanwhile, is arranging an ending of his own that will reach every one of them.

This is a contemporary romance with a fairy-tale streak, a game-show structure and a warm, hopeful tone. It reads as a love letter to childhood books, with found family at its centre.