'You be going to live in the city, Hannah?' Farmer Price asked, pushing his battered hat up over his forehead. 'Wouldn''t think you'd want to go there . . . Times like this, I would have thought your sister would try and keep you away.' Hannah is oblivious to Farmer Price's dark words, excited as she is about her first ever trip to London to help her sister in her shop 'The Sugared Plum', making sweetmeats for the gentry. Hannah does not however get the reception she expected from her sister Sarah. Instead of giving Hannah a hearty welcome, Sarah is horrified that Hannah did not get her message to stay away - the Plague is taking hold of London. Based on much research, Mary Hooper tellingly conveys how the atmosphere in London changes from a disbelief that the Plague is anything serious, to the full-blown horror of the death carts and being locked up - in effect to die - if your house is suspected of infection.

Zara and Ella were both two weeks late for the start of the school year. Ever since then they've been best friends. They're always fooling around finding out the star signs of boys they fancy, reading out their horoscopes and playing games to discover the initial of the boy they're going to marry - just things to pass the time and take their minds off exams and tests. Ella's never really taken it all very seriously, but then Zara starts to act a bit differently - dressing like a Goth and experimenting with her new-found spiritual side and psychic powers in order to get them noticed by the popular crowd in their class and earn them both a bit of kudos. But little does Ella know how far Zara is really prepared to go - even betraying their friendship - to get the attention she clearly seeks.Mary Hooper writes with haunting accuracy about the manipulative mind games and power struggles that go on within groups of friends at school. Zara is a brilliantly observed account...

Lucy has become a firm fixture in the household of Dr Dee, a real-life figure who was court magician to Queen Elizabeth 1. Lucy, in return for saving the queen's life, has been told that she is to work as a spy for Her Grace and that she is to remain with the Dee family and await further instruction . . . And then Lucy hears unexplained cries in the Dee house, and finds a young girl imprisoned there. What is Dr Dee doing? Lucy means to find out.A thrilling historical story, full of intrigue and royal plots and counter-plots, from the acclaimed Mary Hooper. An atmospheric and thrilling sequel to At the House of the Magician, full of authentic historical Elizabethan details and spine-tingling thrills . . . Perfect for fans of Julie Hearn and Julia Golding. Mary Hooper is a hugely popular writer for children and young adults. Her other books for Bloomsbury include Amy, Holly and the ever popular and award-winning Megan series, as well as hilarious younger fiction, including the...

It is Jack's , Megan's son, first birthday party and the atmosphere is very tense. But Megan is being distracted by the unusual amount of telephone calls that her mother is getting. Surely Mum hasn't got a boyfriend has she? But it turns out that she has - and what is more, he is moving in. This really shakes up the dynamics of the house-hold, which Mary Hooper details with her accustomed very acccurate and precise eye for domestic detail. A must for all Megan fans.

'Holly. I hope you won't mind me buying you this. I think it's the sort of thing you'll like. Am I right? And I think it matches your eyes. This comes with best wishes from (and I know it's corny). A Friend.' And that was how it all started. Holly starts receiving anonymous gifts at the café where she works. She can't believe it - how romantic can you get? But when Holly finds out the identity of her admirer she is in for a shock - her admirer is not a potential boyfriend: her admirer is her father. Holly has to come to terms with the fact that her father is not the man who lives at home with her, who she loves and calls her father. Her father is a man who has lived all her life on the other side of the world, not even knowing of her existence. Holly and her mother have some talking to do. Mary Hooper tackles this emotionally fraught situation with tenderness and compassion, yet still with her trademark pacy readability that has proved so popular with the young teen...

'It all started after I fell out with Louise and Bethany, really. It was falling out with them that made me try to find friends somewhere else, and the Internet seemed a good place to look . . .' Amy is a level-headed sort of girl, certainly not one to get into dangerous situations. But when the new term starts she does find herself without her usual gang of friends. And so she turns to the Internet and meets a very sexy guy who calls himself Zed. It's not long before he is asking her to meet him . . . Even the level-headed Amy cannot in the end resist this invitation.In Mary Hooper's classically accessible and unpreachy way, she tackles responsibly the potential danger of the Internet and the use of 'date-rape' drugs.

Rose is a laundress in a Victorian steam laundry. With both her mother and father dead, she is an orphan and has to rely upon her own wits to make a living. The laundry is scalding, back-breaking work and Rose is desperate to create a better life for herself. Then Rose is noticed by Madame X, a famed medium, who asks Rose to come to work for her. Rose is dazzled at first by the young yet beautifully dressed and bejewelled Madame. But soon Rose realises that Madame X is not all that she says she is, and Rose's very life is in danger . . .A romantic and thrillingly exciting new novel from an acclaimed and much-loved historical writer for teens.

When Poppy learns that the love of her life, Freddie de Vere, is to marry someone else, she knows her heart will break. Devastated, she volunteers her nursing skills overseas to take her away from the painful reminders at home. But things are about to get much worse for Poppy. The journey to the hospital in Flanders is full of horrors, and when she arrives it is to find a spiteful ward Sister and unfriendly nurses. Despite her loneliness and homesickness, the dangers of frontline warfare soon make her forget her own troubles and Poppy finds that comfort for a broken heart can be found in the most unexpected places.Brilliantly researched and inspired by real-life events, big and small, Poppy in the Field is a story about the forgotten bravery of women on the front line, told through the eyes of a young woman determined to play her part.

Poppy is young, beautiful and clever – and working as a parlourmaid in the de Vere family's country house. Society, it seems, has already carved out her destiny. But Poppy's life is about to be thrown dramatically off course. The first reason is love – with someone forbidden, who could never, ever marry a girl like her. The second reason is war.As the lists of the dead and wounded grow longer, Poppy must do whatever she can to help the injured soldiers, knowing all the while that her own soldier may never return home . . .

A poor runaway during the Elizabethan period, Lucy does not have many options. Her luck finally turns when she is taken on as a maid in the household of Dr. Dee, a real-life figure who was court magician to Queen Elizabeth I. The household is strange and sinister, and Lucy has a nose for intrigue. So when she stumbled across a plot to assassinate the queen, Lucy must find means to warn her . . . before it's too late.

Eliza is ousted by her new stepmother from her family and finally makes her way to London - only to be thrown straight into prison for stealing a mouthful of bread. At this point Eliza's life takes some remarkable twists as she learns to survive the sordid prison life, is rescued by a woman she has never met before pretending to be her aunt - but for what exactly? - and befriends Nell Gwynn who introduces her to the courtly intrigue, politics and glamour of the court of King Charles. And then Eliza finds out about her true background....

In this follow-up to By Royal Command, Lucy is asked to continue her work on behalf of Queen Elizabeth I. But will her romance with Tomas, the queen's fool, get in the way? There's also Mistress Juliette, the mysterious new lady-in-waiting. Could she be a threat to the queen? Or is Lucy simply jealous of the attention that Tomas is paying her? A thrilling and romantic historical novel that will give all teenage readers an accurate sense of the Elizabethan period.

'I saw him first. His eyes swivelled round the room and then rested on me and I thought to myself - WOW!' Chelsea and Astra are like chalk and cheese. But even so, they are the best of friends. They do everything together. Until something happens. That something is a boy. And for the first time ever, Astra and Chelsea are fighting against each other. Will their friendship survive? Written from the perspectives of each friend, Mary Hooper gets right to heart of what it feels like when the loyalty of even the best of friendships is tested.

I could barely explain how much I wanted to go back to London, for I hardly understood myself. I'd hated the stinking city when we'd left, could hardly bear to think on its name, but now the plague had disappeared from the streets the people would be back, the theatres and shops would be open and we would find everything as cheery as it had been before.Hannah returns to her beloved London to re-open the sweetmeats shop with younger sister Anne. Londoners are reeling from the plague epidemic of the previous year, but Hannah and Anne are keen to start enjoying everything the bustling city has to offer. But this is 1666, and it has been prophesised that terrible things will happen, and on Pudding Lane, flames are raging through the bakery...Mary Hooper evokes with complete mastery the sights, sounds and terror of a London gripped by the ferocious and terrible Fire of London, engulfing everything in its path.