Things You Didn’t Know About Chimneys By John Hughes Brings Mischief Back To Children’s Storytelling

On The Table Read Magazine, “the best arts and entertainment magazine UK“, dive into Monkspew Manor with brave ten-year-old Millie in John Hughes’ wickedly funny new adventure—packed with secret chimneys, dodgy aristocrats, and pure Roald Dahl-style mischief that will have readers aged 9+ howling with laughter.

Things You Didn’t Know About Chimneys

There’s a particular kind of magic that happens when a children’s book feels deliciously, unapologetically naughty—the sort of book that would have made your nine-year-old self smuggle a torch under the duvet to read “just one more chapter.” London Irish writer John Hughes has bottled that exact feeling and uncorked it in his riotous new middle-grade adventure, Things You Didn’t Know About Chimneys.

Ten-year-old Millie expects a dull summer when she’s packed off from boarding school to the crumbling medieval pile of Monkspew Manor, accompanied only by her fiercely protective Nanny, Mrs Braceworthy. The estate’s ornate Tudor chimneys twist into the sky like gossiping witches, and the whole place is supposedly getting a facelift courtesy of Bert Bogglethrop and his paint-spattered crew—armed with suspiciously cheap materials and boundless optimism.

The owners, Lord and Lady Syngen-Hyde (Millie’s aunt and uncle), claim rightful inheritance. Rumour, however, disagrees. And as soon as the first tin of cut-price paint is opened, the manor starts behaving very strangely indeed.

Soot, Secrets, and Things That Go Bump in the Flue

Strange noises echo down corridors after dark. Chimneys belch smoke in impossible colours. Something—or someone—is definitely living up there.

Millie’s insatiable curiosity kicks in. With a ragtag gang of eccentric helpers, she launches a fact-finding mission that leads through hidden passages, along crumbling parapets, and—naturally—straight up the chimneys themselves. What she uncovers is a gloriously chaotic conspiracy involving dubious aristocrats, misplaced deeds, and revelations that skitter across the roof tiles like startled soot-sprites.

Dahl Meets Dickens (with Extra Sarcastic Ravens)

Hughes writes like Roald Dahl and Eva Ibbotson had a baby that was raised by particularly witty corvids. The humour is sharp, the adults gloriously incompetent, and the children triumphantly resourceful. One minute you’re snorting at Bert Bogglethrop attempting to paint a ceiling while balanced on a stack of wobbling encyclopedias; the next you’re gripping the book as Millie inches along a ledge three storeys up.

Yet beneath the slapstick and surreal set-pieces runs a warm current of heart. Lessons about courage, compassion, and asking the right questions slip in so naturally you barely notice—until you realise you’re a little bit braver than when you started.

A New Voice in Children’s Literature

This is only Hughes’ second children’s book, following his delightfully boggy Irish folklore debut The Bog Bogluns of Ballinalee (2022). That proved he could conjure whole worlds from peat and mischief; Things You Didn’t Know About Chimneys confirms he can do the same with soot, Tudor brickwork, and the faint whiff of embezzlement.

His writing journey began just eight years ago when his daughters insisted the bedtime stories he invented were too good to stay secret. Since then he’s published several works that dance along the border of British wit, Irish folklore, and subtle horror.

The Verdict

Things You Didn’t Know About Chimneys is a joyful, off-kilter triumph: a book that reminds us mischief isn’t just allowed in children’s stories—it’s practically required. John Hughes has arrived as one of the freshest, most distinctive voices in middle-grade fiction today.

Perfect for readers aged 9+ (and their covertly reading parents) who still believe the best adventures begin with the words “I wonder what’s up there…”

Grab a torch, pack a sense of the ridiculous, and maybe a small chimney brush. Monkspew Manor is open for mischief—and you won’t want to leave.

Find more from John Hughes now:

www.johnhughesauthor.co.uk

Apple Books: https://apple.co/4k8boX0

Kindle: https://amzn.to/43zC8Kj

Paperback: https://amzn.to/4nZf5jj