Fantasy

Mig, who writes stories and keeps a journal to document her experiences, tells how she, her brother Chris and their mum, are spending the Easter holidays at the home of aunt Maria who lives by the sea. Their father, who had left to live with another woman, has recently been killed in a car accident while on the way to visit the aunt.

It soon becomes apparent that Maria is a master manipulator and loves nothing more than to have Mig and her family dancing attendance on her. And she is a queen bee with a coterie of women that the two children nickname the Mrs Urs. The men of the community are mostly non entities governed by their wives, the Mrs Urs, and the only children are kept in an orphanage. Mysteries surround the disappearance of an Anthony Green, son of a woman who is now mentally disturbed, and it eventually transpires that his disappearance is linked with that of Aunt Maria's daughter.

Chris tells Mig that a ghost is waking him every night and trying to communicate, an occurrence which later turns out to have great significance. Chris' sarcasm and refusal to obey the aunt and her minions eventually brings retaliation from Aunt Maria who, as well as befuddling with words, turns out to have the power to turn others into animals. Mig and her family have unwittingly been caught up in a magical power struggle along gender lines in the town and to resolve their predicament, she will have to secure help from outcasts and solve mysteries including what happened to her father.

A very entertaining story with unusual characters including some truly villainous ones, and rather wacky fantasy elements. The only thing that keeps it from 5 stars is that the ending is a little rushed and also it ends up being a kindly male wizard who resolves matters rather than Mig herself. So I would award it 4.5 if half marks were allowed on Goodreads. ( )

Another well crafted story from DWJ in which gender roles are a terrible way to organize a society, never cleaning out your car solves mysteries, and gaslighting will ruin everyones life. ( )

An OK young adult from Jones but not a favorite for me. Told by the journal entries of the young female protagonist, what was to be a few days at Aunt Maria's becomes an unfolding nightmare of social entrapment in a small village. Initially there is no fantasy, then there's appears to be a ghost, then her brother gets turned into a wolf, then things get weird.

Jones avoids cliches. There's something new and interesting on each page. But in this book she took no time to create a foundation of the family unit (Mother, daughter, and brother) so there's nothing to emotionally engage with.

Good for fans for Jones, not the first thing I'd recommend. ( )

Terrifying and perfect. I want to write a 10-book thesis about gender in this book. ( )