Wickerlight

An eerie, magical thriller from the author of The Wren Hunt, perfect for fans of Frances Hardinge and Emily Bain Murphy’s The DisappearancesZara’s family moved to Kilshamble for a new beginning. But everything changed the night her sister was found dead on the village green. Two months later, Laila’s death is a riddle that nobody wants solved. Where were her injuries? Why was she so obsessed with local folklore? And what does all this have to do with David, the boy who lives at the big house? As Zara delves deeper into her sister’s secret life, she becomes entangled in an ancient magical feud. All too unwittingly she is treading the same dangerous path that led Laila to the village green …

The most superb collection of character and fantasy and love and landscape I have read since Phillip Pullman's Northern Lights, A modern-day fairytale ... Throwing romance, magical visions and gruesome rituals into the pot, this is a thrilling and otherworldly depiction on Irish Culture, Beautiful, eerie, dark and dreamy ... An absolutely stunning mix of myth and legend and family saga. I haven't stopped thinking about it, The tentacles of this story reach deep into Ireland's mythological past, in a haunting tale ... The story is riveting, set in a modern country town but at all times laced with reminders of more violent but intriguing times, There's a heady mix of the real and the magical in The Wren Hunt and I completely fell under its spell. A clever, wonderful, evocative novel, and I don't have a single, even lukewarm, criticism to make

Mary Watson is from Cape Town and now lives on the West Coast of Ireland with her husband and three children. Highlights of her adult writing career include being awarded the Caine Prize for African Writing in Oxford in 2006, and being included on the Hay Festival’s 2014 Africa39 list of influential writers from sub-Saharan Africa. The Wickerlight is her second book for young adults, following The Wren Hunt.