Description
A city wounded by war. A suspicious stranger. A tempting offer with a terrible price.
Elsie Clarke's home life is turned upside down when a German air raid on London brings the war to her doorstep and her house becomes a temporary refuge shelter for survivors.
Further surprises lie in store when she returns for her second year at Miss Coleridge's Academy for Gifted Youths. Elsie is desperate to prove herself as a Guardian but a few terrible mistakes causes Elsewhere's trust in her to falter. To make matters worse, Gifted kids around the world have gone missing, taken somewhere the Gateways can't reach, leaving Elsie powerless.
Then a mysterious figure appears, offering Elsie a tempting solution - a way to use Gifts without Elsewhere's permission. But is the power worth the price?
Review
Elsie, now twelve, has returned for her second year at Miss Coleridge’s Academy for Gifted Youths to find that the incredible Madam Tyrll is now the principal, and the entrance standard has been dropped to allow many more students in. Elsie’s gift of being a Guardian is developing, and she has lots to show the new students about their gifts. She also wants to help some who have been allowed in who don't have special gifts.
Being 1915 the First World War is now affecting everyone, and London is being bombed. But when Elsie discovers that children are being used as slave labour in a munitions factory, she devises a plan to free them. Madam Tyrll is not so pleased to have so many new mouths to feed, but in her typically good-natured way she makes everything work.
Madam Tyrll’s daughter Violet disappeared four years ago, after her father’s death, feeling sure that Elsewhere could have done more to save him. When Violet secretly meets Elsie, she tries to get her to join her and her mysterious friend to help make the world be a better place. Elsie is not sure where Violet will lead her, but the ending uncovers a dark plot and sets the story up nicely for Book Three.
Full of teamwork, uncovering and using your gifts, trusting your instincts, and discovering and developing friendships, this is a terrific fantasy novel that is perfectly positioned for lower secondary readers, but could be read by upper primary students too.
