A chance of a lifetime has just appeared for 13 yr old orphan Almanac. He has received an invitation from a grand manor to be an apprentice second footman. Leaving his best friend Josh and a structured but not too terrible orphanage life behind, Almanac climbs the stairs to the grand manor’s front door. It swings open and Almanac expects to see a butler, a maid, or someone. All he finds is a welcoming note and a new uniform.

Before long he is joined by a girl with long-black pigtails and a green dress, wielding a long, sharp hairpin like a knife. Something tripped her as she entered the house, the very same thing that had happened to Almanac. But unlike Almanac who believed he’d tripped over his own feet, this girl was angry, believing someone had attacked her!

The girl introduces herself at Regret Jacobs or Etta for short. She is the youngest of twelve sisters and when her own invitation arrived she grabbed the opportunity to leave her home of twelve years where she is last in the pecking order, a bother to her parents and in her opinion – unappreciated.

They introduce themselves and find that although they’ve both been invited to this house, their invitations gave different names. Almanac’s invite says Spoilnieu Manors (don’t forget the s at the end), and Etta’s says something completely different.

This is first thing they begin to bicker about, with their personalities polar opposites. Etta is fiery, obstinate, clever, and argumentative. Almanac likes some quiet to be able to think, and things tidy and in the right place, but he too is smart with a sharp, almost photographic memory.

They set out to explore and soon discover other occupants in the house, and although odd, they come across as just very busy in their endeavours, like Doctor Mithily working in a kind of laboratory, or unwell like bedridden Lady Simone.

Oddness it seems is rife, as the house is clean and there is always food available, but no-one cleans or fills the pantry. A young chimney sweep talks to them from the chimney but never shows himself.

Etta has learnt a little about the ways of magic from her family, and she believes it is present in this strange house. Together they begin to look for more clues of magic’s presence, but soon fall into arguing again until they refuse to speak to each other. This argument triggers even more mystery which turns to a deepening sense of malice as they realise they cannot leave. No-one will answer their questions and every effort to scale the house’s tall outside walls fail. But to leave is the last thing they should do, because something is watching…

This middle grade novel quickly grabbed my attention with the character’s strange invitations and the house occupant’s weird ways. The mystery builds slowly but surely, with Etta and Almanac trying to unravel the conundrums of the huge, grand house.

Clue hunters will love the word play and although this story also includes the supernatural, it is not too scary. Will you cross the threshold of this intriguing manor….?

Author – Sean Williams

Age – 8+

Meet the Author and Find Teacher’s Notes here

(Orphan, Clues, Mystery, Sorcery, Magic, Supernatural, Control, Consequences, Sisters, New life, Escape, Captured, Mistake, Sorcerer, Bicker, Argue, Stubborn, Historical)