Cover and chapter opener illustrations by Matt Saunders

It’s Maisie Day’s 10th Birthday, but when she races downstairs, she finds herself alone, her family gone and the world she knew no longer exists outside – just an impenetrable darkness that is seeping into her home.

It’s Maisie Day’s 10th Birthday, but when she races downstairs, even with her birthday breakfast underway, big sister Lily makes everything about her – just like she always does.

Maisie is a child genius, who passed her GCSE’s and A-Levels in Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Biology, and is currently studying for a degree and n Maths and Physics. And, it’s going to take everything she knows to work out what is going on as reality keeps shifting around her. Will she get the nuclear reactor she wants for her birthday?

Heart-breakingly beautiful, The Infinite Lives Of Maisie Day is an electrifying read that will leave you breathless. With each new twist, Maisie’s determination and resilience to unearth the truth and escape the darkness threatening to swallow her world shine through, as does her loneliness where big sister Lily is concerned. Not only does it open up huge scientific questions, from Vantablack to Möbius Strips and the theory of gravity to infinite  universes, but also what it means to be human, how we treat the people we love and how to overcome our fears and self-doubt.

Having read and loved both The Many Worlds Of Alfie Bright and The Jamie Drake Equation, I deliberately waited until I had an uninterrupted afternoon to read this stunning story, and I’m so glad I did. I was gripped from the very first page until the very last, and left tear stained and hopeful. The Infinite Lives Of Maisie Day has earned its place on the bookshelf in my heart.

Oh, and do translate the binary code at the end!