Potter lavishes attention on the gothic island setting and Roo’s uncle’s estate it’s a thrilling ghost story, but one that, like the story it’s drawn from, has love and rebirth at its heart. Other noises-mysterious humming and crying-lead Roo to twin discoveries: Emmett, a cousin she didn’t know existed, and a domed, dried-up garden in a remote part of the house. Roo is a loner who hides to avoid others and often puts her ear to the soil, listening to the sounds of life underground. Roo Fanshaw is a runty thief, good at hiding with her hoard of trinkets in tight spaces where big people cant come after her. After Roo’s drug dealer father is killed, the 12-year-old girl goes to live with her aloof, widowed uncle in a rambling former tuberculosis sanitarium on the island of Cough Rock in the St. The author borrows plot elements effectively, yet her strong characterizations, fluid dialogue, and evocative descriptions give the novel a vibrant life of its own. In a resonant novel inspired by The Secret Garden, Potter (The Kneebone Boy) pays graceful tribute to the spirit of that classic. Inspired by The Secret Garden, this tale full of unusual characters and mysterious secrets is a story that only Ellen Potter could write.
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