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26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A riveting, wide-ranging and highly detailed story., 29 Aug 2000
By A Customer
I stayed out at lunch an extra quarter of an hour today to finish this book, and read so hard I think I've given myself a headache! You know when your heart is in your mouth and you know you are reading too fast to take in all the details properly, but just NEED to find out what happens? What I immediately wanted to do was to start at least the final section again, as it needs close attention. (If you recognise the above feelings, then you will be delighted by the heroine's similar behaviour after receiving a parcel of paperbacks for Christmas! The author lists many books Polly reads and this literary journey turns out to be important.)Not many writers would have the courage needed to portray a heroine right from age ten to nineteen in one book, but Diana Wynne Jones has the skill to show all the subtle ways in which Polly changes. I have always tried to search out novels containing 'rights of passage' themes, but this is the most realistic description I've read of the awkwardness of teenage years getting in the way of a girl's true, strong nature, which wins out in the end. Polly suffers a lot of heartache from her parents' marriage breakup and subsequent bad relationships. This both isolates her and throws her onto the company of her sensible grandmother, who knows more than Polly thinks about the dark secrets of Hunsdon House. But she really has to think for herself and keep on her toes to defeat the truly sinister evil characters. As well as wanting to reread this book to explore its world more thoroughly, I hope you will want, like me, to seek out the old ballads whose words and meanings are woven throughout the story. And was the photograph a real one that the author had seen; did it inspire the whole book? By the way, a part of the book was set in Bristol, where I luckily used to live, so I recognised the descriptions of places and this really enhanced the action for me. To sum up: a satisfying, exciting, old-fashioned magical adventure with convincing working in of fantasy into real life. If you are browsing for fantasy books for an older child, you should definitely buy this - but you'll have to try not to crease it too much before you let them read it!
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by Diana Wynne Jones
by Diana Wynne Jones
by Diana Wynne Jones
by Diana Wynne Jones
by Diana Wynne Jones
