The Pearl Thief

"Standing perfectly well on its own and in no way diminishing Code Name Verity (to which it’s a prequel), The Pearl Thief is a gorgeous coming-of-age story. Julia Beaufort-Stuart is the granddaughter of the Earl of Strathfearn, visiting the estate one last time before it’s to be sold during the summer she turns 16. As Julia dozes near the estate’s pearl-laden river, someone hits her on the back of the head, hard enough to put her in hospital for days, leaving her with no memory of what happened. Meanwhile, a professor who works for her family has gone missing, local Travellers are persecuted, and slowly, with the help of friends and siblings, Julia begins unknotting the mysteries one river pearl at a time."