Echo Mountain
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
SHORTLISTED FOR THE CILIP CARNEGIE MEDAL 2021
'Harper Lee has a worthy successor. Wolk is a big new talent' The Times
'Lyrical, timeless . . . A luscious, shivery delight' Kirkus starred review
1933. When Ellie and her family lose everything, they flee to Echo Mountain. Ellie runs wild, exploring the mountain's mysteries. But the one she can't solve is who's leaving the gifts for her: tiny wooden carvings of animals and flowers, dotted around the mountain for her to find.
Then Ellie's father has a terrible accident. When she sets out to find a cure for him, she discovers Cate, the outcast witch, and Larkin, a wild mountain boy. From them she learns about being a healer, being brave - and how there can be more to a person than first meets the eye.
An unforgettable novel from the award-winning author of Wolf Hollow and Beyond the Bright Sea.
'It is a magical thing to step into a world created by Wolk . . . Captivating' Booklist starred review
'Historical fiction at its finest' The Horn Book starred review
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A girl realizes her standout gifts as a healer in this exquisitely layered historical novel set in Depression-era Maine. After the financial crash forces a tight-knit family of five to move from town to build a cabin on Echo Mountain, a tree-felling accident puts 12-year-old narrator Ellie's father into a coma. The family's struggle to survive intensifies, made worse by fears about whether their beloved father a tailor turned woodsman who, like Ellie, loves the wild will ever awaken. Complex family dynamics loom large amid day-to-day matters: Ellie's mother and sister long for their former life and blame Ellie for her father's state; Ellie, who discovers a gift for healing, further upsets them by trying to startle her father awake. When a dog leads Ellie to "the hag," a woman who knows about cures and is herself suffering, the girl lends a hand, resulting in further tensions, this time within the interconnected mountain community. Via strongly sketched cabin-life cadences and memorable, empathic characterizations including, perhaps most vividly, of the wilderness itself Newbery Honoree Wolk (Wolf Hollow) builds a powerful, well-paced portrait of interconnectedness, work and learning, and strength in a time of crisis. Ages 10 up.
