90100 9 781509 801121 ISBN 978-1-5098-0112-1 UK £9.99 That’s one seven-letter word I wish didn’t exist. Fifty points extra or not. Scrabble genius Finlay McIntosh is a different lad to the one his mother left behind. One day she was there, the next she was gone. And his dad won’t even mention her name. All Finlay has to remember her by is a bag of letter tiles and an empty journal. Then a chance remark by a mysterious new player he meets online changes everything. Has he stumbled on to a major clue that could help him find his missing mother? Finlay will do whatever it takes to find out the truth. But can he find his voice . . . before it’s too late? Kim Slater honed her storytelling skills as a child, writing macabre tales specially designed to scare her younger brother! Taking her literary inspiration from everyday life, Kim’s debut novel, Smart, has won four regional prizes and been shortlisted for over sixteen regional and national awards, including the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and the Federation of Children’s Book Groups Prize. Smart was also longlisted for the 2015 Carnegie Medal. Kim lives in Nottingham with her husband and has one grown-up daughter. A Seven-Letter Word is Kim’s second novel for Macmillan Children’s Books. www.kimslater.com Cover illustration by Helen Crawford-White The word migh b is still importan Have you read the award-winning I have th voice — befo clog up in my mouth, t what I have to say o find out who’s telling truth. I need to find my e it’s too late. From the author of Smart - ‘A remarkable first novel’ Guardian