Relish in mischief, adventure and the most unusual family ever, with the bestselling and multi-award-winning Katrina Nannestad.

Frances Bloom has everything she needs -- a cottage by the sea, a fairyfloss machine and grandparents who never say, 'Don't!' Life is perfect ... until Steven Starmaker begins searching for his runaway movie star ... Frances's gold is stolen during the Year 3 treasure hunt ... Grandma Maude and Grandpa Harold disappear ... and a strangely familiar woman called Ms Thorn appears on the scene.

Can Frances rescue her family and bring them home to Apple Cottage? Or is she doomed to be taken away to Bleak Island Home for Unwanted Children and Dogs?

Delight in the cheeky antics of eight-year-old Frances Bloom with MULTI-AWARD-WINNING Australian author Katrina Nannestad.

Details

ISBN13: 9780733343995
Format: Paperback / softback
Number of Pages: 144
Edition:
Publication Date: 29 Sep 2026
Publisher: ABC Books
Publication City, Country: New South Wales, Australia
Dimensions (cm): 19.8(H)x13(L)x1(W)136
Weight (gm): 136

Author Biography

Katrina Nannestad is a multi-award-winning Australian author. Her books include the CBCA-shortlisted We Are Wolves, The Girl Who Brought Mischief, The Travelling Bookshop series, The Girl, the Dog and the Writer series, the Frances Bloom series, the Olive of Groves series, the Red Dirt Diaries series, the Lottie Perkins series, The Story Writer's Handbook: Adventures in Creative Writing, the historical novels Rabbit, Soldier, Angel, Thief, Waiting for the Storks, Silver Linings and All the Beautiful Things, and the picture book A Song for the King. Katrina grew up in country New South Wales in a neighbourhood stuffed full of happy children. Her adult years have been spent raising boys, teaching, daydreaming and pursuing her love of stories. Katrina celebrates family, friendship and belonging in her writing. She also loves creating stories that bring joy or hope to other people's lives. Katrina now lives on a hillside in central Victoria with her husband, a silly whippet called Olive and a mob of kangaroos. www.katrinanannestad.com Marina Zlatanova is a Bulgarian-born designer, illustrator and printmaker living in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia. She has illustrated several picture books to date, including Charlie's Shell, her debut as an author, which won a Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year award. Her style is varied and eclectic, using a diverse range of media -- from watercolour and inks to digital illustration and block printing -- but her love for depicting the humorous and endearing always underpins her creations.

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