This is a dark fairy story in which issues such as family relationships are explored. Triss is a 13 year old girl who wakes up after an accident in which she had somehow fallen into a deep pond near to the holiday cottage where her family are staying - except that it soon becomes obvious that it was no accident. Triss' parents are afraid that someone has deliberately tried to harm her to get back at her father for an unspecified grudge - and her younger sister, Pen, is eaten up with what appears to be hatred and spite against Triss and insists she is fake and not Triss at all. Odd things start happening so that Triss fears she is losing her mind - including a doll that starts screaming when she goes near it.

I won't say much more about the plot but it becomes clear that the family has buried grief for a lost son (the story takes place a few years after WWI) and copes by making the elder daughter into a pretend invalid and the younger one into the 'bad girl' of the family who oblidges by acting out accordingly. Into this dynamic comes the fallout from a bad bargain the father made to try to get back their son, a bargain with a definite downside for all the family's children, including lost son Sebastian. And a sinister tailor who believes he is doing the right thing even if it involves murder of children. This is certainly not a tale of Tinkerbell; all the fairies in this story are very dark and have their own agenda. I enjoyed the book but found it didn't quite reach the level of The Lie Tree - it does have the same originality but the story was allowed to flag a little here and there. So an enjoyable 3 star read. ( )

1.5 stars

there was an intrigue that kept me reading up until about halfway through but then it took a turn into grimes fairy tale lane. The big revelation that showed up at about 40% into the story killed the intrigue and what was left was a long arse race to a predictable end that I didn't care to read about. ( )

Be warned: This is a dark book. And I love dark books...but there's a reality to the horror experienced by the children in this book which goes somewhat beyond the page, and there were times when reading it simply became too much for me. As a child, I'm honestly not sure whether I would have loved the book or felt tortured by it. As an adult reading it, the gravity of how traumatic these experiences would be for a child--and the way even the fantastical horrors could be seen as translating into real life trauma--added an extra layer of horror to the story, which was already fairly dark.

But, all that said, Hardinge is an extraordinary writer. Her ability to bring life to historical characters and settings for middle grade readers of adventurous horror is unmatched as far as I'm concerned, and although I had to take my time in reading this book, I'm so glad I did. It's difficult to talk about without giving away some of the power of the book, but if you like creepy reads about children and want a dark read, I'd absolutely recommend it. ( )

A dark fairytale with excellent storytelling and world building. Frances Hardinge tells wonderful stories and weaves her words skilfully.

I found the opening chapters tricky to follow; and it turns out that's for a reason: the characters themselves, including the protagonist, don't know what's going. Once on board, the story unfolds until the last page. A rewarding, turbulent, sinister, and emotional journey. ( )

It has been much too long since I read Frances Hardinge. Her fantastical worlds, sympathetic characters and tightly woven plots are fabulous and unputdownable. There are many stories told about good children stolen away and replaced by changlings, but what if you were the changling and no-one had told you? With strong themes of identity and working out your own morality, and a powerful sense of the 1920s and the grief after the War, this book touches on a huge range of topics from sibling rivalry, middle class families with their repressed brokeness, and what happens to the people who don't fit in as the world gets tidier. ( )