A young girl sets out to defeat the evil spirits inhabiting her home in this spooky middle grade adventure perfect for fans of Coraline and Margaret Peterson Haddix’s The Strangers.

Lily is used to hospitals—she’s spent more time in them than out of them thanks to her recent health issues. But when her mother goes into labor, her parents drop her off at her grandmother’s house and rush to the hospital without her. Lily doesn’t want the new baby to replace her and she certainly doesn’t want to be sick anymore.

Most frustrating of all, she forgot to pack Willo, her favorite toy. Under her grandma’s not-so-watchful supervision, Lily sneaks back home to get Willo. Expecting to find an empty house, she is surprised to find her parents there. But something isn’t right... They look just like her mom and dad until she gets closer and sees their coal black eyes. And they refuse to let her in—it’s their house now.

With the help of some surprising new friends that she meets in her garden, Lily is determined to beat these demons and be reunited with her real parents. But is she strong enough to triumph?

Nick Lake is the critically-acclaimed and prize-winning author of six YA novels, including The Blood Ninja trilogy, In Darkness (winner of the Michael Printz Award), There Will Be Lies and Whisper to Me.  He is a publisher at Harper Collins Children's Books and lives with his family in Oxford.  Locked out Lily, illustrated by Emily Gravett, is his first middle-grade book for children and will be release in September 2021 by Simon & Schuster Children's Books.

@nicklakeauthor

Emily Gravett is the two-time winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal with Wolves and Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears.  Her internationally award-winning picture books include Meerkat Mail, Tidy and Old Hat.  She has illustrated bestselling fiction, including Matt Haig's Evie and the Animals and and a recent full-colour edition of Quidditch Through the Ages. 

@emily_gravett