Walker Books Australia

November 2021

ISBN: 9781406391190
Imprint: Walker

RRP: $18.99 Au , $21.99 NZ

Some of us of a certain vintage have enduring memories of Jareth, The Goblin King (aka the divine David Bowie) taking away baby Toby when Sarah becomes so frustrated with her little brother that she wishes him gone. Ross Montgomery has combined that idea with traditional English folklore of faerie and created a fantasy adventure that will thrill readers from the first page.

Yanni is angry. He is angry with his parents for taking him away from the little house in town where he has lived all his life, because it is too small. He is angry that their new place is not just in the country but in a horrible place called Fallow Hall, where everything is bleak and bare. He is angry because they have not gone for their usual summer holiday to visit his grandparents in Greece and he misses his Yiayia terribly. He is angry because now he has to put up with his annoying cousin, Amy. And most of all, he is angry because his parents have baby Ari and she alone is the reason for all the other calamities.

When Yanni and Amy are left to babysit Ari, all Yanni’s angry thoughts come together in a rush when the children accidentally allow an evil faerie into the house, and baby Ari is kidnapped, with a changeling left in her place. Despite his resentment of his little sister, Yanni cannot allow her to be trapped in the faerie world and together with Amy, he goes through the portal into a whole other Fallow Hall where the two cousins must use all their wits, skill and resilience to face down the trickery and cruelty of Lorde Renwin.

This is exciting and a tiny bit scary, thankfully with moment of humour to offset the tension, with so many rich characters and plot twists that able readers will thoroughly enjoy every moment of the perilous journey. Side by side with the quest are some lovely insights into family relationships, courage, sacrifice and ingenuity. It is the sort of book one just gobbles up because the unbearable urge to know what happens next is overwhelming. Sophisticated and astute readers from around ten years upwards will relish this and I thoroughly endorse it as a fabulous addition to your collection.