Poppy Haviland & The Secret of the Lively Widow is the first book in a series featuring twelve-year-old aspiring actress Poppy Petunia Haviland and her adventuresome friends. Simply being twelve years old is tough enough, but try being twelve AND the daughter of the world’s most famous movie star. Yeah... exactly.  

In The Secret of the Lively Widow, Poppy’s family relocate to a small town where the appearance of superstar Holly Haviland takes the community by storm. Even when Poppy discovers a treasure map carefully tucked within their historic lodgings, she can’t seem to capture anyone’s attention for very long. She recruits her best friend, Annie Kim, and her strange new neighbour Rick Reyes (a rapper and inventor), to explore the history of the map and of their new community.  

The trio learns that the town that they are living in was a key terminal on the Underground Railroad – the illegal passageway to freedom that played a major role in the termination of slavery in America – and that Poppy’s family played an important role in that history. Will their efforts result in the discovery of a long-rumoured historical treasure, or will someone else get to it first?