By Amy Ephron
Amazon rating: 4.4/5, grades 3-7
Good Reads: 3.32/5
Common Sense Media: Not Reviewed
4Rbooks: 4/6, grades 3+-7
167 pages
Synopsis:
Tess and Max have spent the last year at a boarding school in Switzerland while their father is a reporter covering the war in Afghanistan and their mother is recovering from illness in New York. They have been sent to England to spend the summer with their Aunt Evie who lives outside a small village with no internet and few neighbors. Not the most exciting place to be, until….
One day Tess takes a walk and finds a rusty key that opens a rusty gate which seems to be surrounded by an invisible wall. Through the gate she meets a young man about her age William, who seemingly lives there in a castle with his French nanny Marie and the groundskeeper, Barnaby. William and Tess become friends as he shows her around the grounds, and they play soccer together. Tess comes back later with Max, and then they are invited for dinner.
That night, everything changes, and they begin to wonder about their new friend and the enchanted land where he lives. They were warned about the Hawthorne trees and soon find out why they are dangerous.
Parental Guidance: medium low
This is, at its core, a ghost story for children
There are scenes where the children are in danger from mystical, fantasy
creatures.
Recommendation:
Amy Ephron is an award-winning author of books for adults. This was her first novel for children. It is the first in a series of three books starring Tess and Max. She is also a film producer and the sister of Nora Ephron, famed movie director.
I will be interested to see if the stories and characters are more fleshed out in the next two books of the series. This story is good as it is, but it always felt like there should be more. More details about the children, more action and adventure to the plot, and more explanations for the fantastical and mystical elements. It was a fun read, and will keep your interest to the end, but you may not be as satisfied with the finish as hoped. Being only 167 pages (hard cover) it’s an easy read, and accessible for children who struggle with longer stories.
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