Cherie Dimaline is a celebrated Canadian author in the wake of her stunning breakout The Marrow Thieves, and I was thrilled to read a story that resonated with me so much as a child reimagined through her Indigenous perspective. ![]() This remix of The Secret Garden takes a classic and transposes it to a new and compelling time and place, trading the English countryside for the forests of early 20th century Georgian Bay. Under her malicious rule, everything that Mary has grown to love may be at risk. But just as they begin to explore, Olive's stepmother returns to the house. She grows very close to charismatic Sophie, who roams fearlessly through the forest, and then finds a friend in her cousin, Olive, who has been hidden away at the top of the house, bedridden with some mysterious ailment.Īlso hidden away is a walled garden that Mary and Sophie discover, locked up tight, and they begin to suspect it contains even more family secrets. But when she arrives, she discovers that her uncle is always away on business, and the house is run by a staff of Métis locals who soon have her shedding the angry, prim persona of her old life. When Mary Craven's parents die, she's sent to live with an uncle she's never met in the wilds of Ontario. That feeling defines Kosoko Jackson's book, setting the stage for the decisions Douglas inevitably makes. While the trappings of scholarly activity are missing, the book does capture that insular feeling of a remote boarding school, where your whole world gets condensed into the lives of the people who surround you. At one point, Douglas is even excused from even going to class indefinitely so that he can focus on the bigger problems at hand. The folk-horror aesthetic is generally under-used in YA fantasy, and it works here to excellent effect as Douglas digs deeper into the history of a place where he feels so othered, only to discover that he is the only one who can untangle the age-old curse.įor a book set at a school, there is a distinct lack of any sort of schoolwork. Having attended a remote school in Vermont myself and having walked home through the dark woods on more than one occasion, I can attest that the creepy forest atmosphere that permeates this book is on point. He may be the only one who can stop the killing and break the curse that holds the school's founding families captive. Soon Douglas finds himself caught up in a conspiracy that has plagued Regent Academy for generations. The next day, everyone except for Douglas seems to have forgotten that the injured boy ever existed. Then Douglas witnesses a boy being brought into the infirmary with potentially fatal wounds. There's something in the forest that surrounds it - something that speaks to Douglas day and night, threatening his safety and that of all his fellow students. But the problem is that Douglas senses that things are not right at this remote school in Vermont. After being accused of starting a fire that killed multiple people, the opportunity to start fresh at a fancy prep school like Regent Academy should be a golden one, even if being Black, queer, and on a scholarship sets him apart. Although only the opening and closing chapters take place at an actual university, the passion and discovery of scholarly work infuses the book from start to finish.Įveryone thinks that Douglas should be grateful for a second chance. ![]() Soon we begin to see that beneath her damsel in distress exterior is a veritable ocean of rage and resourcefulness, and her journey to self-realization is deeply satisfying. When the book begins, Effy seems like such a fragile, timid character. The folkloric worldbuilding that I expected from being familiar with her work really shines through, creating a gothic, sea-water-sodden atmosphere that immersed me completely in the story. Having greatly enjoyed Ava Reid's previous two adult fantasy novels, I was very excited to delve into her first foray into YA fantasy, and A Study in Drowning does not disappoint. The longer she spends immersed in the world that produced her favorite novel, the more she wonders if perhaps her new rival is correct, and there's more to Angharad than meets the eye. Worst of all, Effy discovers there's already another student from the university in residence – a young man determined to shatter the legacy of her beloved idol. The whole place is crumbling into the sea, Myrddin's son is mercurial, and his widow has hidden herself away but doesn't seem to want Effy in the house. But when she arrives at the remote manor, nothing is the way she imagined it.
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