Lena's Fortune

By Jill Marshall

It’s 1912, Manchester. Twelve-year-old Lena Matthews comes from the rough end of town, living in a two-up and two-down with her drunken father, sickly mother and houseful of siblings. When one little sister doesn’t make it, the tragedy sparks of a series of events that transport Lena from the squalor of home to the grandeur of the Dark House, working in service for the Birtles Family.

All is not as it should be in that household either, as Lena discovers when the Birtles’ son, haughty Henry, inveigles her into covering for him as he tries to discover the whereabouts of his uncle’s fortune.

Lena finds herself drawn into the adventure, but more important is the personal journey she embarks upon, discovering that men rule the roost no matter what the household, and women need to change themselves in order to change the future. With pride, vigour, and not a little heartache, Lena sets out to make her way in life, to discover her own fortune in unexpected places.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jill Marshall
• Release date: May 4, 2013
• ISBN: 9781927239551

Jill Marshall

Jill Marshall is the author of the best-selling Jane Blonde series and fiction for children, young adults and adults. Her middle-grade series about sensational girl spy, Jane Blonde,published by Macmillan Children's Books UK, has sold hundreds of thousands of copies around the world, featured as a World Book Day title and reached the UK Times Top 10 for all fiction. Jane Blonde has been optioned for film and TV and is currently undergoing some exciting Wower-ish transformations.Jill has now brought Jane together with her other series in this age group - Doghead, The Legend of Matilda Peppercorn, Stein & Frank - in a fantastic new ensemble series. Meet the SWAGG team, and their first book, SPOOK.As well as books for tweens and teens, Jill writes for young adults and adults, each with a collection of three stand-alone novels. She also writes for younger children, with a Hachette-published picture book for teenies, Kave-Tina Rox.When she's not writing books, Jill is a communications consultant and a proud mum and nana. She divides her time between the UK and New Zealand, and hopes one day to travel between the two by SatiSPI or ESPIdrilles.