Fran is perfectly happy in her own company. She doesn’t miss not having any siblings especially when she hears the Walker grandchildren in the garden that her father tends.

Usually Leo and twins Evan and Jessie are away at expensive boarding schools, but every summer holidays they stay with their grandmother (and Fran’s Dad’s boss) Mrs Walker at her grand house called Longbarrow. The children are noisy, greedy and they mock Fran’s accent.

One morning, while Fran helps her father in the Longbarrow House vegie gardens, she hits something hard under the dirt with her gardening fork. Digging further reveals a long bone. Only minutes later there is a cry from the Walker children. Jessie has lashed out with a cricket bat and Leo is lying on the ground. They call out for help and Fran can see the bone of his leg, broken.

Later, when Leo has ben whisked away and seen by a doctor, Fran thinks more about the terrible day. Did striking the bone in the vegie garden and Leo’s splintered bone have something in common, or was it a coincidence?

Again she’s helping in the garden when she finds something else, and then news in her family is similar. What is happening here?

Leo is now in a bath chair (early 20th century wheelchair) and bored silly. His twin siblings are too irresponsible to look after him during the day so Fran is asked by Mrs Walker if she will keep him company.

She tells Leo of her fears about the coincidences happening to her and then another rises to meet them. Leo knows the history of Longbarrow House and together they find the scariest coincidence of all.

This dyslexic title is set in 1914 at a grand manor called Longbarrow House. It portrays life back then of the wealthy children of the manor with worry-free outdoor days and posh accents, and the gardener’s daughter who has always avoided them.

Brought together after an injury, Fran gets to know the oldest Walker child. Whilst exploring they discover historical secrets of Longbarrow House. Secrets that bleed into their own lives.

Author – Emma Carroll

Illustrator – Kaja Kajfez

Dyslexic Title – Reading age 8 – Interest Age 8-12

Read the first chapter here

(2020, Barrington Stoke, Dyslexic Titles, Dyslexia, Easy Reads, Reluctant readers, Historical, Friendship, Coincidence, Ghosts, Burial Site, Manor House, Twins, 1914, War, Archduke)