This first book in a new series is built on the
perfect collaboration between Rebecca McRitchie and the highly gifted
illustrator, Sonia Kretschmar, whose brilliant artwork adds a visual dimension
to the story.
Siblings Whimsy and Woe Mordaunt’s thespian parents
leave the house one day, never to return. The children are forced to go and
live with their Aunt Apoline in her rotting boarding house, The Idle Slug,
where strange people come and go. Here the two must earn their keep by being
the servants and carers of the demanding and obnoxious boarders.
Three years on, there is still no sign of the
Mordaunts. While cleaning the grate, Woe discovers some half burnt letters that
indicate their parents have been abducted. The discovery of a secret wall in
their room, gives them the means to escape and the search for the missing
thespians begins.
With no clues as to where to look, the search
becomes a series of adventures, challenges, escapes and near misses. The
siblings get trapped in a pirate’s antique shop, go on a journey through
Anywhere Swamp and Sludge Farm, and meet the strange Swamp Master and his wife.
They are saved from disaster by Markus who is searching for his thespian
grandfather. Together they return to the Mordaunt home.
Nothing is as it was. Lots of questions are
answered for the children through many exciting reveals. There is also the
conundrum that is the Purple Puppeteer, and the mystery that continues to
surround the whereabouts of Whimsy and Woe’s parents.
At the house, Whimsy and Woe are once again
confronted by their dreadful Aunt Apoline, who is determined to wreak revenge
on them for ruining her plans, and if possible, return them to servitude.
Lots of unfinished business remains. Plenty of
strings are left dangling to be tied to the mysterious and eventful adventures
to be discovered in Book 2.
Title:
Whimsy and Woe
Author:
Rebecca McRitchie
Illustrator:
Sonia Kretschmar
Publisher:
Harper Collins, $ 24.99
Publication
Date: August 2017
Format:
Hardcover
ISBN:
9781406753040
For
ages: 9+
Type: Middle Fiction
