A Boys Own Space Adventure: Starcross by Philip Reeve (London: Bloomsbury, 2007)

A sequel to Larklight, Starcross sees Arthur Mumby, his sister Myrtle and their several million year old Mother invited on holiday to the asteroid resort of Starcross. There they meet intelligent hats, discover a dastardly plot and defend the British Space Empire against the machinations of a French spy, daughter of the failed American revolutionary Wild Bill Melville. At the end the irritatingly prim Myrtle decides to study alchemy in order to prove to her love, the ex-pirate Jack Havock, that she really is the girl for him.