The Museum of Things Left Behind

Escape into this hugely enjoyable, big-hearted and beautifully written novel, set in Vallerosa, a European country you've never heard of before. As part of Lizzie Holmesworth's Duke of Edinburgh gold programme, she visits Vallerosa, a secluded inland country, cut off from the rest of Europe except by a single railway track. Due to a simple misunderstanding she is mistaken for a member of the British royal family and, as a result, is allowed into the lives and hearts of the Vallerosan people. This young girl's interactions with its people begin to heal a dysfunctional nation, and bring great changes to many of the country's inhabitants – not least their ruler. Reminiscent of Italo Calvino and Jonas Jonasson's fantastical fables, and Wes Anderson's magical kingdoms, Seni Glaister's debut novel a tour de force of endless invention; a modern fairy tale, magical and real it is charming, provocative, amusing and wise, which will make you see the world as if freshly minted.