'SUMMER 1914. When Fran unearths a bone in the garden of Longbarrow House on the same afternoon that Leo breaks his leg, it must surely be just a coincidence. But Fran can't shake the uneasy feeling that the events are somehow connected, and there is a shift in the atmosphere that leaves her troubled and anxious. Roped into keeping wheelchair-bound Leo company, Fran is forced to listen to his foolish theories about the looming threat of war in Europe. But as the pair start to uncover more secrets buried beneath the garden, they dredge up threatening shadows of the future, and Fran begins to fear that Leo's dire predictions might be coming true ...'
There are a good few books that take place during the first world war, even if they don't necessarily deal with people involved in the war it's still not hard to find stories of people getting by with loved ones off fighting, trying to keep their lives together as the conflict rages on. But I'm not sure if I'd read a book that deals with the build-up to the war, especially one designed for children.
The Ghost Garden is set in the summer of 1914, as tensions build in Europe and Britain faces the prospect of having to send its men off to fight and die. It's during this period that we meet Fran, a young girl who's the daughter of the groundskeeper and gardener of Longbarrow House, a large stately home. She spends her days following her father around the grounds, helping him with his jobs.
This all changes when the grandchildren of the owner, Mrs Walker, come to spend their summer holidays at the house. Fran doesn't really like the Walker children much, and is used to being alone much of the time. However, the same day that Fran discovers a strange bone in the potato patch, accidentally breaking it with her gardening fork, Leo Walker is injured by his younger sister, breaking his leg.
At first Fran thinks this is a strange coincidence and thinks nothing more of it, until she finds something else buried in the garden, something else that seems to predict the future. Now Fran begins to think that there might be something strange about Longbarrow. When she gets roped into helping Leo around, who is now stuck in a wheelchair whilst his leg heals, she discovers that Leo believes their might be an ancient burial mound on the property. Does this connect to the strange things that Fran has been experiencing, and what could happen if the two of them actually find it?
The Ghost Garden is a short but sweet novella, and uses its limited page count well, and every scene feels like it serves a purpose, with their the story being driven forwards, or readers being given the chance to spend some time with Fran and really getting to know her. Fran is a very likeable protagonist, and I came away with a good sense of who she is and what motivates her over the course of the book, and quickly came to like her.
Leo, on the other hand, definitely feels a bit more mysterious to begin with, and it takes you a while to understand him and come to like him, but very quickly you see that not only is he much more likeable that you first expect, but he proves to be a great counterpart to Fran. The two of them work really well together, and I'd love to see more stories with the two of them solving more mysteries, and discovering more secrets.
The book deals with the looming threat of the war well, and very slowly reveals to the reader the events that are happening in Europe, using Leo's interest in global politics to let the reader in on these things without it feeling overwhelming, or like an info dump. It also does a good job of exploring the very real fears that people would have had at the time, particularly the worries children would have had about loved ones going off to fight. They're quite grim moments, with the weight of those emotions having great effect on the characters, yet Emma Carol never allows these dour moments to overwhelm the scenes, and the book ultimately has a feeling of hope and grim determination for the younger characters.
I think that this is a book that younger readers will definitely enjoy, there's a good mystery going on, some spooky happenings that will have readers on their guard for much of the book, and it gives some great insight to how people felt during this frightening period. Plus, the book has some wonderful illustrations by Kaja Kajfez, who really manages to bring the characters to life.
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