A tender, sweet, and hilarious novel about growing up with a loving family and a perfectly rambunctious dog, from an author who “has set the standard of brilliance” ( Horn Book ). When she was eight, Binny’s life was perfect: She had her father’s wonderful stories and Max, the best dog ever. But after her father’s sudden death, money is tight, and Aunty Violet decides to give Max away—he is just too big for their cramped new life. Binny knows she can’t get her dad back, but she never stops missing Max, or trying to find him. Then, when she’s eleven, everything changes again. Aunty Violet has died, and left Binny and her family an old house in a seaside town. Binny is faced with a new crush, a new frenemy, and…a ghost? It seems Aunty Violet may not have completely departed. It’s odd being haunted by her aunt, but there is also the warmth of a busy and loving mother, a musical older sister, and a hilarious little brother, who is busy with his experiments. And his wetsuit. And his chickens. You’ll delight in getting to know Binny and her charming, heartwarming family in this start to a new series from the inimitable Hilary McKay. "Tremendously entertaining." ― The Guardian "Try Hilary McKay. Her books are so good you want to climb inside the covers and live there." ― The Daily Telegraph "A sensitive exploration of friendship, grief, and the often hilarious rough and tumble of families adjusting to change. More Binny please." ― The Daily Mail "With humor, poignancy and a keen insight into human nature and family dynamics, Hilary McKay...moves in with the Cornwallises." -- Jennifer M. Brown ― Shelf Awareness *"With humor, poignancy and a keen insight into human nature and family dynamics, Hilary McKay...moves in with the Cornwallises." -- Jennifer M. Brown ― Shelf Awareness, starred review *"The writing is gorgeous, clear as water; the characters vivid and lively; the story so real each moment of loss, fear, delight and love absolutely visceral." ― Kirkus Reviews, starred review * "Fans of McKay's Casson books will warmly welcome the delightful and eccentric Cornwallis family... the humorous and poignant interactions among Binny's caring older sister, independent younger brother, and insightful mother are the heart of the novel." ― Publisher's Weekly, starred "This novel combines effervescent everyday-life storytelling with subtle exploration of the ripples of loss that shape young lives, and McKay fans will celebrate the introduction of an engaging new heroine." ― BCCB *"McKay’s masterful control of the mayhem is ingenious; may the Cornwallis family, like the Conroys and the Cassons before them, have many adventures to come." ― Horn Book, Starred Review Hilary McKay is the award-winning author of The Time of Green Magic (which received five starred reviews), The Skylarks’ War (which was a Boston Globe Best Book and received three starred reviews), Binny Bewitched (which was a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year and received two starred reviews), Binny in Secret (which received three starred reviews), Binny for Short (which received four starred reviews), and six novels about the Casson family: Saffy’s Angel , Indigo’s Star , Permanent Rose , Caddy Ever After , Forever Rose , and Caddy’s World . She is also the author of The Swallows’ Flight , Rosa by Starlight , and Wishing for Tomorrow , the sequel to Frances Hodgson Burnett’s A Little Princess . Hilary lives with her family in Derbyshire, England. Visit her at HilaryMcKay.co.uk. Binny for Short Chapter One By the time Binny was eleven years old, she had lived in two worlds.  A child’s world, and a time-to-start-growing-up-now world.  An easy world, and a hard world. Eight years in the first, and three in the second.  Yet when Binny looked back at the first world from the second, it was hard to believe it had lasted so long.  The eight years diminished like a landscape seen from far out at sea.  An outline. Sunlit highlights. Some gull shrieks of dismay.  A coldness, just as if a fog had rolled in from the sea.  Then it was almost gone.  A shadow land that once had been a solid, steady world. That steady world had held Binny, her father and her mother, her brother,  James, and her sister, Clem. It also held a large cheerful house, a friendly school, and her father’s bookshop.  Very famous people had visited that bookshop, and some of them wrote about it afterward.  The sort of  bookshop you will find in Heaven, wrote one optimistically. Books to die for! said another. “That’s an awful thing to say!” said Binny when she heard, but her family laughed at her, and her father had both quotations embossed on thick cream bookmarks, which he gave out free to customers. It was the sort of  bookshop that gave away a lot of things free: bookmarks, sofas to sit on while you read, sweets in blue china bowls next to the sofas, iced water, stickers. Even free stories. The stories came from Binny’s father. He