Kasia is mostly stuck in her room after a case of tonsillitis leaves her with the debilitating condition myalgic encephalomyelitis (chronic fatigue). Too weak to attend school, she watches life passing by her bedroom window. One evening she sees what looks like the kidnapping of a little girl – and she notices that someone else in the window opposite hers has witnessed what happened too! She calls the police to investigate, but they and her neighbours both claim there’s no young girl living there. Is Kasia losing her mind? How can she find out more about this girl in the window when even a trip downstairs wipes her energy out?

Girl in the Window is a compulsive page-turner and, like Penny Joelsen’s first novel I Have No Secrets, it’s an interesting exploration of life for someone with limited abilities. Kasia struggles to accept her physical limitations, and most of her school friends fail to understand the seriousness of her invisible illness. Girl in the Window raises some pertinent themes surrounding community, friendships and support for vulnerable people, and Joelson does it in a way that is informative and compelling. This book is a must-read for fans of mysteries and other novels such as Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon and Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper. For readers 12+.

Pilgrim Hodgson is a children’s and YA specialist at Readings Kids.