Inkbound: Meticulous Jones and the Skull Tattoo

Ages 8 to 12, Grades 3 to 7

Enter an extraordinary magical adventure about family, fate, and finding the courage to be yourself! This magnificent debut is perfect for fans of Nevermoor and The Swifts.

Your ink is who you are. On her tenth birthday, Meticulous Jones—known to her friends as Metty—receives her fate, as all children do, in the form of a magical tattoo on her hand. She hopes that her ink will reveal something exciting: a tattoo that will symbolize travel, or discovery, or adventure. What appears is a skull, balanced in the palm of a violet glove.Metty’s fate is to become a murderer. Metty is swiftly hidden away by her father, Moral Jones, in a remote Welsh farmhouse, with only a miserable housekeeper (who’s terrified she’ll become Metty’s first victim) for company. But when Moral goes missing, his sister, Aunt Magnificent, arrives to sweep Metty off to the glittering city of New London. Metty is mesmerized by the magic and enchantment she discovers there. But when she starts to hear rumors of a mysterious and dangerous organization known as the Black Moths, she wonders if they might be connected to her father’s disappearance—and to her own fate...

About the Author

Philippa Leathley grew up in East Yorkshire, spending summers down south with her eccentric grandparents and writing feverishly as soon as she could hold a pen. When not writing, she enjoys learning new languages, is fond of studying anything from historical fiction to shipwrecks, and is a bit obsessed with sharks. She lives just outside Hull with her family and three weird and wonderful rescue cats, Bram, Lyra, and Theo the Brave. Inkbound: Meticulous Jones and the Skull Tattoo is her first novel.