"Alice's world is falling apart. Her parents are getting a divorce, and they've cancelled their yearly cottage trip--the one thing that gets Alice through the school year. Instead, Alice and her mom are heading to some small town where Alice's mom will be a live-in nurse to a rich elderly lady. The house is huge, imposing, and spooky, and everything inside is meticulously kept and perfect--not a fun place to spend the summer. Things start to get weird when Alice finds a dollhouse in the attic that's an exact replica of the house she's living in. Then she wakes up to find a girl asleep next to her in her bed--a girl who looks a lot like one of the dolls from the dollhouse. When the dollhouse starts to change, she knows she has to solve the mystery. Who are the girls in the dollhouse? What happened to them? And what is their connection to the mean and mysterious woman who owns the house?-- - (Baker & Taylor)
A creepy, mysterious dollhouse takes center stage in this atmospheric middle-grade mystery for fans of Doll Bones and Small Spaces.
Alice's world is falling apart. Her parents are getting a divorce, and they've cancelled their yearly cottage trip -- the one thing that gets Alice through the school year. Instead, Alice and her mom are heading to some small town where Alice's mom will be a live-in nurse to a rich elderly lady.
The house is huge, imposing and spooky, and everything inside is meticulously kept and perfect -- not a fun place to spend the summer. Things start to get weird when Alice finds a dollhouse in the attic that's an exact replica of the house she's living in. Then she wakes up to find a girl asleep next to her in her bed -- a girl who looks a lot like one of the dolls from the dollhouse . . .
When the dollhouse starts to change when Alice isn't looking, she knows she has to solve the mystery. Who are the girls in the dollhouse? What happened to them? And what is their connection to the mean and mysterious woman who owns the house? - (Random House, Inc.)
CHARIS COTTER grew up beside a cemetery and has been living with ghosts ever since. She studied English in university and went to drama school in London, England. She is the award-winning author of The Swallow: A Ghost Story, The Painting and The Ghost Road. Charis loves all the places that ghosts like to linger—old houses, cemeteries, forgotten paths and the wild Newfoundland coastline. She has worked extensively in schools and libraries from coast to coast, using drama and storytelling to bring her books to life. Her performances of Newfoundland ghost stories has thrilled audiences of all ages, from Florida to Vancouver Island. She lives at the end of a road beside the ocean, in one of the most haunted parts of Newfoundland. - (Random House, Inc.)
Kirkus Reviews
It's 1997, and 12-year-old Alice's regular life is in turmoil; a move to the countryside leads to supernatural adventure. Alice has an overactive, vivid imagination-at least, according to her mother. But is what she sees always imaginary? After telling her emotionally absent, workaholic husband that she's leaving him, Alice's mother takes her daughter to Blackwood House, where she has a live-in nursing job caring for a wealthy old woman while she recovers from a fall. Alice is befriended by teenage Lily, the housekeeper's daughter, who informs her that her bedroom is haunted. As Lily and Alice explore the house, they find a dollhouse in a locked room that becomes real in Alice's dreams. Who are Fizz and Bubble-the sisters who also appear in her dreams-and what is her purpose in their lives? In her everyday world, Alice hopes her parents will reunite, worries about her mother's flirtation with the local doctor, and tries to stay out of the way of her mother's cranky patient. This is a twisty tale that goes in many different directions but never loses the main thread. The author carefully lays out clues for readers who like to solve mysteries themselves. Both Lily and Bubble are developmentally delayed; they are described respectfully and are fleshed-out characters. The cast members default to White. A time-traveling mystery that will keep readers involved and guessing up to the very end. (Paranormal mystery. 9-13) Copyright Kirkus 2021 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.
