THE MIDNIGHTERS

An anxious child finds a friend, a secret circus, and a mystery to solve in 19th-century Prague.

Ema Vašková has been gifted with an education in the sciences by her 11 older siblings, has uncommon knacks for reading faces and entering rooms unnoticed, falls into fugue states when she’s thinking hard, and possesses the inner stuff to face her fears—given proper prodding. That prodding initially comes from mysterious and wild-spirited Silvie, a girl who leads her on a series of thrillingly daring nighttime adventures…and then disappears suddenly. Screwing her courage to the sticking place, Ema sets out alone to track her down and, after clever sleuthing, discovers a subterranean carnival of illusions and pseudoscientific marvels with which Silvie was somehow involved—and which is in turmoil following the supposedly accidental death of a resident ghost whisperer. Along with narrow squeaks and daring exploits, the author tucks in subtle cues and clues on the way to a classic whodunit climax in which Ema gathers cast members into a room to rehearse the evidence and not only exposes the guilty to vindicate her friend, but, most significantly, satisfies a deep yearning to be seen by her busy but, as it turns out, educable parents. Ema leads a cast that largely presents White. Tooke’s afterword suggests that her protagonist is, like herself, neurodivergent; she demonstrates positive attributes that accompany a label that is often framed in terms of difficulties.

Adventures beguilingly rich and strange beneath a series of “full-ish” moons.