The Ghost of Midnight Lake
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
From award winning author Lucy Strange comes a thrilling ghost story about a strong willed heroine who will follow even the most restless spirit in order to untangles the dark mystery of her own past. It's 1899. The Earl of Gosswater has died, and twelve-year-old Agatha has been cast out of her ancestral home - the only home she has ever known - by her cruel cousin, Clarence. In a tiny tumbledown cottage, she struggles to adjust to her new life and the stranger who claims to be her real father. While adjusting to her new fate, she learns that the shores of Gosswater lake are haunted, and soon comes face to face with the spirit of another young girl who's soul will not rest. Could the ghost of Gosswater hold the key to Aggie's true identity?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in England's Lake District in 1899, Strange's (Our Castle by the Sea) gripping riches-to-rags story hearkens back to Victorian classics, employing strong gothic elements alongside matters of inheritance and parenthood. Lady Agatha Asquith, 12, is cast out of her ancestral home when the father she's known, the Earl of Gosswater, dies, and the male heir—Agatha's cruel, recently arrived cousin Clarence—reveals her true lineage. Under the care of her newfound biological father at his small cottage, Agatha struggles to adapt to her new circumstances, tending geese and doing household chores. But she slowly recasts herself as Aggie and befriends orphan Bryn, with whom she sneaks out to explore nearby Skelter Island, where lies the Asquiths' cemetery. The plot thickens when a ghost girl appears and Aggie attempts to find the lost Queen Stone belonging to the Asquith line. Though Clarence proves predictably dastardly, he remains an effective foil throughout, while a spookily atmospheric historical setting; strong friendships among the appealing, presumed-white cast members; and a memorable heroine propel this ghostly mystery. Ages 8–12.
