Something dark has awoken on the remote island of Lume

Jess is not pleased when her parents drag her off to live on the weird little island of Lume. But then she encounters an eerie presence in an abandoned cottage, and her anger turns to fear when it begins to lead her through a series of creepy riddles. As she slowly unravels the mysteries of Lume, she finds the writings of Sebastian, a boy who lived one hundred years ago and whose life contains unsettling reflections of her own. To her horror, the dangers he unearthed in 1894 now begin to threaten Jess and her family . . . and if Jess does not unlock the riddles in time, she may lose her mother forever.

ANNOTATION

After moving with her parents to a remote English island, fourteen-year-old Jess attempts to dispel an ancient curse by solving a series of riddles, aided by Epsilon, a supernatural being.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Jess has moved to a remote island called Lume off the coast of England. Her parents are restoring an old house, and Jess discovers an abandoned cottage on their property. Inside the cottage Jess encounters an eerie presence -- something like a ghost but suffused with a comforting energy. She also finds three locked boxes. Inside each she finds antique papers that send her mind spinning.

As Jess unravels the mysteries of Lume, she finds the writings of Sebastian, a boy who lived one hundred years ago and whose life contains unsettling reflections of her own. To her horror, the dangers he unearthed in 1894 now begin to threaten Jess and her family. Something dark has awoken, and Jess doesn't have much time to do something about it.

Jess has a talent for solving puzzles, riddles, and codes. She is confronted with a series of riddles that she must unlock in order to save her mother from a dark and ancient threat. Jess is guided by the creepy presence in the cottage. The mysterious guide is called Epsilon, but is he a guide from the bright side or the dark?

Christine Morton-Shaw has created a spectacular thriller about one girl's spine-chilling experience with the supernatural world.

FROM THE CRITICS

School Library Journal

Gr 7-9-Jessica White, 14, is trying to adjust to her parents' abrupt move to the Isle of Lume (off the English coast) when she discovers the ghostly presence of Epsilon and the fascinating letters of Sebastian Wren, who lived 100 years earlier. Slowly the clues come together, revealing that the danger (or is it madness?) her mother faces appears to be the same thing that destroyed Sebastian's mother. Epsilon clearly has something for Jess to do, but he speaks only in riddles, poems, and haunting songs out of Lume's history. Morton-Shaw's first novel deals ultimately with an age-old curse and the battle for power between good and evil. Teen readers will identify with Jess's sense of isolation from friends, her chat-room visits, her attraction to the unknown, and the variations in her relationship with her parents (ranging from rebellion to overwhelming love and concern). Ultimately, though, she is just too brave and too clever to be believable. She faces fear and the unknown with a flinch but never weak-kneed. Some of the clues and riddles are too obvious; others are so obscure that even when Jess explains them, they are difficult to grasp. Finally, the conclusion, meant to be a jaw-dropper, instead comes across as what some might consider a cheap trick.-Melissa Moore, Union University Library, Jackson, TN Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Ciphers, codes and other puzzles abound in a British fantasy that uses the immense conflict between dark and light beings at the core of its magic. The twist here is the frequent chat room script that contrasts the ghostly presence of Epsilon with the girls' slang and more informal dialogue. Jessica's family has just moved to a remote island to try to sort out the marital difficulties of the parents. Determined at first to be uncooperative, Jessica is gradually intrigued by the mysterious and unexplained hints that Epsilon drops about the enormous stakes. Sebastian Wren and his parents lived in the Big House over a hundred years ago and the exchanges through time between Jess and her mother and their earlier counterparts add to the suspense. Those looking for Christian symbolism will be rewarded, but the excitement of the chase will be sufficient for most readers. In the tradition of Ellen Raskin's classic The Westing Game, but closer to Blue Balliett's Chasing Vermeer (2004) or Emily Rodda's Deltora Quest series. A clever conundrum. (Fiction. YA)