The Girl and the Ghost

A French village, new friends, fabulous food, a local mystery to be solved and . . . a ghost.

She snaps the locket shut. Just as quickly as he appeared, the boy is gone.

Josephine's heart is hammering. Her skin feels prickly and hot.

Surely, she's imagined him. That's the only possible explanation. Because boys don't live in lockets. Not unless they're ghosts. And ghosts aren't real. Or are they?

When almost-thirteen-year-old Josephine Eloise Thomas moves from Sydney to a chateau in the southwest of France, she expects many things - adventures, inspiration for the stories she loves to write and maybe finding out more about her French mother, who tragically died when she was a toddler. What she doesn't expect is to find a beautiful gold locket with the ghost of Louis XVII trapped inside!

After being accidentally released into the twenty-first century, the young prince proves to be annoying, strange and obviously from another time. He also believes that Josephine is not who she says she is.

Then, there's Gabriel. The grandson of the local baker - French, beautiful, an artist and definitely not a ghost.

When Josephine and Gabriel venture to the shadowy Chateau Du Lac next door to her home, the secrets become more sinister. With Louis's help, can Josephine and Gabriel discover what her neighbours are really up to and solve the mystery of Louis and the locket too?

About the Author

Jacqueline Harvey worked in schools for many years but has had a passion for storytelling since she was a child.

She is the author of the popular Alice-Miranda, Clementine Rose, Kensy and Max and Willa and Woof series, which have sold almost two million copies in Australia alone. In 2022, she released a picture book, That Cat, illustrated by one of her former students, Kate Isobel Scott. The pair has since gone on to publish The Daring Tale of Gloria the Great and the Kevin the Sheep series. Jacqueline's books have received numerous shortlistings and awards while her picture book, The Sound of the Sea, was a CBCA Honour Book.

Jacqueline speaks to thousands of young people at schools and festivals around the world and says the characters in her books are often made up of the best bits of children she’s met over the years. While she is not a twin, like Kensy and Max she does have excellent powers of observation and has always thought she’d make a great spy.

She has narrated over thirty audio books.

Jacqueline lives between Sydney, Australia, and Queenstown, New Zealand. The first book in her new middle grade series, The Girl and the Ghost, launches in 2025.