Double Spell

“Ever since we’ve had this doll,” Elizabeth said hesitantly, “we’ve had funny things happen – the same dreams and knowing things and stuff like that.”

Twins Jane and Elizabeth are twelve years old and have outgrown dolls. Nevertheless, on a cold wet spring Saturday they find themselves in an antique store, inexplicably drawn to a small, tattered old fashioned doll. Even the owner of the store seems to understand that the doll somehow belongs to the girls.

Once the twins buy the doll, stranger and stranger things begin to happen, and a young girl from the past seems to be calling out to them. The search to discover the history of the little doll brings the twins terrifyingly close to the world of the supernatural as they finally solve a tantalizing mystery.

Janet Lunn’s first novel, long unavailable, is republished in a fresh, beautiful edition.

Mary Forbes - Children's Literature

When twelve-year-old twins, Jane and Elizabeth, fall in love with an old antique doll, neither is prepared for the strange happenings that occur once they bring the doll home. In this wonderfully suspense driven mystery, the sisters share not only a love for the doll but uncanny visions of a bygone time. As past and present intermingle, the twins are faced with the reality that something or someone wants to communicate with them. Each vision resembles a moment in time that leads the twins through a series of puzzling mysteries involving their town's history and a possible link to their own past. Although first published in Canada in 1968, Janet Lunn's remarkable work is timelessly entertaining for today's readers. Fast paced and eerily detailed, Double Spell will charm readers with the unique but challenging relationship that Jane and Elizabeth share and how the past is never too far away. 2003 (orig. 1968), Tundra Books, Ages 8 to 12.

Janet Lunn is one of Canada’s best loved storytellers for children. She has won many awards for her books, including the Governor General’s Award, the Mr. Christie’s Book Award, and the Vicky Metcalf Award for a body of work. She is a member of the Order of Canada. Janet Lunn was born in Dallas, Texas, and grew up in Vermont and the outskirts of New York City. She came to Canada in 1946 and has lived here ever since. Janet Lunn is respected for her historical fiction focussing on American and Canadian history.