Elizabeth and Zenobia
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Abandoned by her mother and neglected by her scientist father, timid Elizabeth Murmur has only her fearless friend, Zenobia, for company. And Zenobia’s company can be very trying! When Elizabeth’s father takes them to live in his family home, Witheringe House, Zenobia becomes obsessed with finding a ghost in the creepy old mansion and forces Elizabeth to hold séances and wander the rooms at night. With Zenobia’s constant pushing, Elizabeth investigates the history of the house and learns that it does hold a terrible secret: Her father’s younger sister disappeared from the grounds without a trace years ago.
Elizabeth and Zenobia is a wonderfully compelling middle-grade story about friendship, courage, and the power of the imagination.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
After Elizabeth Murmur's mother abandons Elizabeth and her father, they move into his childhood home, Witheringe House. Accompanying Elizabeth is her constant companion Zenobia, who her father dismisses as an imaginary friend but who Elizabeth knows is something... else ("There's a faintness about her that makes it hard to tell where she ends and the rest of the world begins"). Unlike timid, scared-of-everything Elizabeth, Zenobia adores the gloomy, fog-shrouded mansion and is obsessed with conjuring a "Spirit Presence." Elizabeth reluctantly follows Zenobia to the forbidden East Wing of the estate to perform s ances, where they unravel a mystery surrounding Elizabeth's father's sister, who disappeared at age seven. Rounding out the gothic atmosphere of Australian author Miller's first children's book is a lurking housekeeper, a magical storybook, a cemetery, and a garden tended by a gardener who the adults claim doesn't exist; Bryksenkova's stark b&w spot illustrations add to the overall creepiness. Readers will be absorbed by Elizabeth and Zenobia's conversations, the complex and chilling plot, Elizabeth's transformation from meek to brave and the mystery of what, exactly, Zenobia is. Ages 9 13.
