Much-loved Melbourne author Jane Godwin’s newest book is an appealing and emotional novel about families and friendships. Lissa doesn’t know what to do when a boy named Reed shows up on her doorstep after school one day with a five-month-old baby and some surprising questions about Lissa’s mother. Nothing about it makes sense and as she does her best to help Reed and the sickly baby – providing them with food and shelter – it seems that suddenly everybody else in Lissa’s family is keeping big secrets too.

Missing her best friend, Lissa is also having an increasingly difficult time navigating toxic friendships at school and people have been saying some troubling things about her older brother. The book takes a look at how and why harmful online behaviour can play out. It’s a novel with some intense themes that are approached compassionately and resolved thoughtfully. With a warm, satisfying ending it’s very well pitched for an upper-middle grade or younger teen audience aged 11-14.

Kim Gruschow is the children’s book buyer at Readings St Kilda.