Overview
Tanya is no ordinary girl. She can see fairies. But not the fairies we imagine. Evil fairies who cast spells on her, rousing her from her sleep and propelling her out of bed. At wit's end with her daughter's inexplicable behavior, Tanya's mother sends her away to live with her grandmother at Elvesden Manor, a secluded countryside mansion on the outskirts of a peculiar Essex town.There is plenty to explore, as long as Tanya stays away from Hangman's Wood- a vast stretch of forest, full of catacombs and notorious for people losing their lives. Fifty years ago a girl vanished in the woods, a girl Tanya's grandmother will not speak of. As Tanya learns more about this girl, she finds herself dangerously close to vanishing into the fairy realm forever.
Debut author Michelle Harrison weaves an intricate mystery into a beautiful and haunting fantasy that captures a rich world of fairy lore where only the color red can offer protection.
Synopsis
Tanya is no ordinary girl. She can see fairies. But not the fairies we imagine. Evil fairies who cast spells on her, rousing her from her sleep and propelling her out of bed. At wit's end with her daughter's inexplicable behavior, Tanya's mother sends her away to live with her grandmother at Elvesden Manor, a secluded countryside mansion on the outskirts of a peculiar Essex town.
There is plenty to explore, as long as Tanya stays away from Hangman's Wood- a vast stretch of forest, full of catacombs and notorious for people losing their lives. Fifty years ago a girl vanished in the woods, a girl Tanya's grandmother will not speak of. As Tanya learns more about this girl, she finds herself dangerously close to vanishing into the fairy realm forever.
Debut author Michelle Harrison weaves an intricate mystery into a beautiful and haunting fantasy that captures a rich world of fairy lore where only the color red can offer protection.
Publishers Weekly
In this sprightly contemporary fantasy, 13-year-old Tanya has second sight and has been bedeviled her whole life by fairies only she can see. Blamed by her mother for the fairies' pranks, Tanya is shipped off to visit her cold and distant grandmother at isolated, fey-infested Elvesden Manor, an archetypally ancient, ivy-covered mansion abutting mystical wilderness. Aided by Fabian, the smart-aleck son of her grandmother's groundskeeper; Mad Morag, an ancient gypsy; and Red, a girl wanted by the police for kidnapping a changeling, Tanya becomes enmeshed in a decades-old mystery. For many years children have disappeared from the nearby town, supposedly lost in the woods or down in the dangerous catacombs, but only Tanya guesses that malicious fairies may be involved, a discovery that places Tanya in terrible danger. First-time novelist Harrison writes with great assuredness, creating a seductive setting and memorable, fully developed characters. Tanya is a believable and decidedly imperfect heroine, and Fabian is an enjoyably eccentric if occasionally obnoxious sidekick. It's an excellent choice for fans of the Spiderwick Chronicles and other modern-day fairy tales. Ages 8-12. (Apr.)