Changes

That is left hanging, but what is clear from early on, regardless of your opinions regarding the local detail and flavour, is the drama of the tale. Make no bones about it, this is a page-turner, from the dropping in of political adults that would confuse Ruby's growing journey, to the really effective passages concerning her being haunted. This provides a lot of spooks, no end of cliff-hanging chapter breaks, and some vivid writing just on the cusp of things, allowing the 10-13 year old to really feel they are reading a mature book. It also has a great character in Ruby – a finely-wrought female lead, a girl who had a brother and lost him, along with her exploring guts and spunk. She's clearly portraying a girl whose passage into adulthood is being stymied on all fronts – but as I say, witnessing her passage across the boundary zones splitting Shanghai can be really, viscerally engaging. That's helped by a writing style that – when not intent on ramming the season down our throats – is delivering a perfectly pitched present tense, which unsettles at the start, then works superbly in putting us right in the action. Wherever that style and action takes her – and us – it should most certainly be worth following.

[[Young Sherlock Holmes: Snake Bite by Andrew Lane]] might be for an audience a year or two older, but will provide similar high-octane drama in a historical Shanghai.