Take an old family house, full of secrets, most of them disturbing, some downright horrific.
Populate this house with an extended family who have elemental magic gifts, some powerful, some pleasant, and (again) some horrific. (lots of twists and turns to appreciate!)
Send a girl, Garnet, to the house, who has never been there before, as her mother wanted to raise her away from all the trauma she herself had experienced there.
Trap Garnet, along with all the other family members, inside this magic filled house, until the house choses which of them should be the new head of the family.
And then add time travel, and journey along with Garnet through the whole magical, twisted story of the Carrefours past and present as she not only discovers hidden truths, but sets things right that had gone horribly wrong...with the help of time travelling....
The result is a beautifully gripping middle grade fantasy, full of memorable characters, mysteries, and intriguing magic!
The time travelling came as a pleasant surprise, and provided Garnet with key pieces of information that she was able to piece together to figure out how choices made in the past had shaped the confusing and dangerous present she found herself in. She goes both to her own mother's past as a teenager, but further back down her family's history as well. Almost trapped in a hideous magical work of an ancestor a few generations back, she's able, with help from another time travelling ancestor, to break the abominable magical working and set the house and its family on a more wholesome track. It all builds gradually and inexorably up to a final climax that turns into a very satisfactory ending!
Highly recommended--there's enough horror for the young horror fans, enough fantastical detail for the fantasy lovers, and enough non-fantastical family dynamics and mystery for readers who aren't quite either of the above.
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I thought that you would like the old house in this one!
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