Two eerie tales intertwine in this gorgeously illustrated gem. Mary’s story unfolds through the pages of her diary, dated the spring and summer of 1982. An orphan, Mary lives with several other girls and their caretakers at the Thornhill Institute, where she is terrorized by another girl so malicious that she won’t even write her name in her journal. Mary avoids her tormentor by escaping to her room, where she reads voraciously and makes jointed dolls out of cloth and clay. But when the bullying crosses over into cruelty, Mary finally stands up for herself, with tragic results. Meanwhile, Ella’s story, told entirely in pictures and set in 2017, presents her move into a new house, where her bedroom window gives her a direct view into the overgrown back garden of the old, condemned Thornhill Institute. After seeing the figure of a girl in the trees, Ella sneaks over the barbed wire wall to try and find her. Instead, she finds a series of broken dolls, that slowly lead her to an attic room in crumbling Thornhill where she uncovers the terrible secret of what happened to Mary all those years ago. This creepy-cool take on a traditional ghost story will give you chills even on the hottest days of summer, and is perfect for fans of Brian Selznik and Shaun Tan. Coming to a library or bookstore near you August 2017.
I’m so happy to hear that this one stands up to comparisons to Selznick and Tan–that was my first thought when I heard about it. I’m very excited to pick up a copy of this one once it gets to me library.