Hex (Hector), doesn’t know why he does the stupid things he does. They just happen – without thought or planning. Sure he ends up in the principal’s office more than he should and he makes other children cry, but he doesn’t really mean to.

When it happens again down at the rope swing in the middle of the forest near his home, he wonders how it snuck up on him again.

A young girl named Sascha had followed him and his best friend Tommo into the forest. They told her she couldn’t come, but she followed anyway, keen to do what they were doing. But before Hex knew it, the girl was lying in the creek bed with her arm looking strange and her cries ringing out.

He knew he shouldn’t have thrown the stone…

Tommo runs for help. Hex runs away. He shouldn’t have done that either…

When he and Tommo return to the swing, Sascha’s older sister is ready for them. Hex comes off second best, bruised and sore. He runs again, only to find himself in an unfamiliar clearing. A small cottage sits in the centre and an old woman welcomes him inside. She cleans up his cuts and then offers something strange. She believes revenge is called for. An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. She can arrange it. All Hex has to do is crush an acorn she offers him, and the bully will vanish!

This time, Hex puts some thought into it and what’s happened to him. Should he fight back? Does the old woman really mean it? But then it’s too late to decide and revenge is served anyway.

This is my favourite kind of story where magic is rolled into the fabric of everyday life. Best friends Tommo and Hex are hanging out when a small girl is injured, but worse things are yet to come. Both boys are caught up in a world which can swallow people and erase everything they have ever done or affected in their lives.

Decisions are made, both good and bad, friendships blend and blur, and a little girl in the centre of it all smiles throughout.

A spellbinding story of multiple worlds determined by the people who live in them. Magic realism at its very best, by my very favourite award winning and exceptionally talented duo.

Author – A F Harrold

Illustrator – Levi Pinfold

Age – 10+

Read another A F Harrold Book Review (Click on a Cover)

(2022, Bloomsbury, Magic, Magical realism, Friendships, Fabric of the Universe, Forest, Creature, Dog, Animals, Broken Arm, Revenge, Lashing out, Confusion, Rope Swing, Memories, Memory, Spider, Web, Captive, Kidnap, Neglect, Grief, Fantasy, Mystery, Secret)