It’s been ten weeks since it happened. Tess is angry, her dad is a zombie and her cat Alice has been behaving very strangely lately.
After choosing to walk home to avoid the taunts on the school bus, Tess discovers her street in chaos. Her tree (she named Stanley) is lying across her lawn and street, not standing up straight like he should be. Her elderly neighbour’s car is crumpled around Stanley, and she is sitting on the curb. How did this all happen? Alice the cat.
At hearing that Alice dashed across in front of the car on purpose, Tess begins her search. After losing her mum to breast cancer, Alice is very special and Tess sees her mum’s cat as a kind of sister. Sure enough, Alice is again at a deserted house not far from Tess’ home, which is said to be haunted.
It’s also said to be the hang-out of a group of weird goths, drug users and other undesirables. But there is much more to this house that was left in a hurry, months before by its owners.
Tess is joined by her long-term admirer Cotter Wingham, in the search for Alice. He will do anything for Tess, but she usually ignores him as much as possible.
Back home again, she’s worried about Alice and angry at her father for his lack of care for them both. Tess already knows she has a short fuse, but her dad’s constant zombie-like state finally causes her to snap.
An unlikely alliance is made in her flight from home and she finally learns the reason for Alice’s attachment to the deserted house. Long before their town even existed, another house burnt to the ground, and the culprit is back. It wants Alice for its own and Tess must make a difficult choice.
After ten weeks of grief, uncertainty and silence in her home, her life is tipped upside down again. But maybe this time there is something good at the end?
Being a cat lover, the title and cover intrigued me. Add a ghost, a mystery and a likeable main character, and I was hooked early. This mix of genres makes an interesting read. There are also multi-layered tones in this novel – serious, funny, and sad, and the larger-than-life characters of Cotter (who has a major crush on Tess) and Eddie (a misunderstood young man with a brain injury) add even more.
The connection between characters (both alive and dead) of mistreatment or neglect by their families is sobering, but something they can all understand abut each other whilst coming from completely different circumstances.
Alice is the reason for the carnage on the first page of this novel but is also the catalyst for healing sorely needed by many.
Something different, and an enjoyable, multi-award winning read.
Thanks to Regal House Publishing & Net Galley for the ARC of this novel.
Author – Tim Cummings
Age – 11+
Feathered Quill Book Award (2024)
American Book Fest Best Book Award Nominee for YA Fiction (Finalist)
National Indie Excellence Awards Finalist for Teen Fiction (Finalist) (2024)
Available US – N/A NZ & AUS (yet)
(2023, Regal House Publishing, Animals, Cat, Neglect, PTSD, Breast Cancer, Grief, Friendship, Ghost, Family, Adventure, Growing up, Humour, Secret, Decision, Humour, Funny, Boy with a Crush, Baseball legend, Brain Injury, Blame, Mistreatment)