In this episode of the Your Kid’s Next Read Friday First Chapters series:
A. L. Tait reads ‘The Garden of Lost Girls’
A. L. Tait reads from ‘The Garden of Lost Girls’, her new cold-case crime thriller for readers 10+
About A. L. Tait
Allison Tait (A. L. Tait) is the internationally published, bestselling author of 13 middle-grade novels.
Her three epic fantasy adventure series – The Mapmaker Chronicles, The Ateban Cipher, and Maven & Reeve Mysteries – have been shortlisted and longlisted for various awards.
In 2024, her first contemporary middle-grade novel ‘The First Summer of Callie McGee’ was longlisted for the Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award. ‘Willow Bright’s Secret Plot’ and ‘Danger Road’ followed in 2025.
‘The Garden of Lost Girls’ is out now.
Allison is the co-host of the top-rating Your Kid’s Next Read podcast, speaks regularly in schools and at conferences and festivals, and teaches creative writing for children at the Australian Writers’ Centre.
About ‘The Garden Of Lost Girls’
In a quiet, coastal town, eighteen-year-old Jessica lets out a gasp, then walks out of the opening night her own play, ‘The Garden of Lost Girls’. She is never seen again.
What did she see? Where did she go? And why did she never come home?
Thirty years later, Jessica’s nephew, fourteen-year-old Sam, is still asking the same questions. With the town planning an anniversary performance of ‘The Garden of Lost Girls’, Jessica’s family hopes that it will help to jog memories and, perhaps, finally solve the puzzle of Jessica’s disappearance.
And Sam’s mum wants Sam and his cousins, Gracie and Archie, to be in the production to keep an eye out for new information.
At least, that’s the plan.
But as the play goes into rehearsal, a series of accidents makes it clear to Sam and his cousins that not everyone is happy about the performance―and they’ll do anything to stop it.
And when one of them goes missing on the night of the performance, the cousins realise that sometimes history doesn’t always stay in the past.
A new cold-case mystery thriller for middle-grade readers from the author of ‘Danger Road’.
Published by Scholastic Australia
You might also like
Friday First Chapters #31: Samera Kamaleddine reads ‘The Clueless Guide To Solving A Mystery’
Friday First Chapters #12: A. L. Tait reads ‘Danger Road’
Friday First Chapters #6: A. L. Tait reads ‘Willow Bright’s Secret Plot’
First Chapters #12 (Summer): Amy Doak reads ‘Eleanor Jones Can’t Keep A Secret’
FIND A LIST OF ALL OUR FRIDAY FIRST CHAPTERS EPISODES HERE.
Our books
The Garden of Lost Girls by A. L. Tait
The Last Word by A. L. Tait
Danger Road by A. L. Tait
Willow Bright’s Secret Plot by A. L. Tait
The First Summer of Callie McGee by A. L. Tait
The Maven & Reeve Mysteries by A. L. Tait
The Ateban Cipher (duology) by A. L. Tait
The Mapmaker Chronicles series by A. L. Tait
The Beehive by Megan Daley
Teacher, Teacher (anthology), edited by Megan Daley
Raising Readers by Megan Daley
DISCOVER THE YOUR NEXT READ JUNIOR FICTION SERIES HERE
Connect with your show hosts
Website | Allison Tait | Megan Daley
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Twitter | Allison Tait | Megan Daley
Instagram at Allison Tait | Megan Daley
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Meet Allison Rushby, the third member of #teamyknr. Find out about Allison and her books here.
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