The year is 1816 and a strange star, a star with a fiery tail, burns brightly in the sky over England, a bad omen for the residents of the tiny village of Sweepfield. With red snow falling from the sky, strange sightings in the graveyard on Mid-Winters Day, snowstorms with lightning and a summer that never comes, the village is full of rumours and suspicion. No one trusts Lizzie, who somehow survived a fierce storm, when others didn’t, but who is now scarred and blinded for life. No one trusts her sister Peg when animals keep going missing in the night. The family are outcasts.
Nearby is the splendid but mysterious Eden Hall, home to a famous scientist from London. But nothing, or no-one there, is quite as it seems as Lizzie and Peg are going to find out to their cost.
This is another fantastic book by Emma Carroll, author of The Girl Who Walked on Air, Frost Hollow Hall and In Darkling Wood. It is inspired by the story of Frankenstein and cleverly has many links with the original tale. Unsurprisingly then it is quite scary in places, so not for the squeamish. If you like a blood curling tale, like a story set in the past then this book is for you. Emma Carroll is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors… she should become one of yours too.