No one in her family is expecting Julia to come home from school for summer break three days early. So no one thinks to worry when an unconscious girl is admitted to the local hospital. It’s Julia, who was hit on the head when she wandered down to the river after arriving home to an empty house. Identified after a few days, she has only spotty memories of the attack. As Julia struggles to remember, concern mounts over the disappearance of the professor who was cataloging historical items of her family’s estate, being sold to cover her late grandfather’s debts. And where are the river pearls that once filled the reliquary, a centuries-old wooden cup given to the family by the ancestors of Ellen and Euan McEwan? The McEwans are Travellers. Ellen and Euan were the ones who found unconscious Julia and took her to the hospital. Julia likes them. In fact, she finds herself liking standoffish Ellen a lot. Because they’re Travellers, the McEwans are suspect in many people’s minds, a prejudice that infuriates Julia, who’s confronted with her own social privilege as a result. This satisfying mystery tackles themes of class, prejudice, gender, and physical appearance, and will be of additional interest to fans of Code Name Verity, as it gives a glimpse of Julia’s life as a teenager in Scotland. (Age 13 and older)

Don’t miss Elizabeth Wein’s stunning new novel, Stateless

Before Verity . . . there was Julie.

When fifteen-year-old Julia Beaufort-Stuart wakes up in the hospital, she knows the lazy summer break she'd imagined won't be exactly what she anticipated. And once she returns to her grandfather's estate, a bit banged up but alive, she begins to realize that her injury might not have been an accident. One of her family's employees is missing, and he disappeared on the very same day she landed in the hospital.

Desperate to figure out what happened, she befriends Euan McEwen, the Scottish Traveler boy who found her when she was injured, and his standoffish sister, Ellen. As Julie grows closer to this family, she witnesses firsthand some of the prejudices they've grown used to-a stark contrast to her own upbringing-and finds herself exploring thrilling new experiences that have nothing to do with a missing-person investigation.

Her memory of that day returns to her in pieces, and when a body is discovered, her new friends are caught in the crosshairs of long-held biases about Travelers. Julie must get to the bottom of the mystery in order to keep them from being framed for the crime.

This exhilarating coming-of-age story, a prequel to the Printz Honor Book Code Name Verity, returns to a beloved character just before she first takes flight.