Swanfall
Eleven-year-old Pip and his mother are eagerly awaiting ‘swanfall’, when all the migrating swans come back to the estuary. A keen nature lover, Pip helps Mum care for the birds, and his greatest joy is watching for the arrival of their favourite swans, Silver, Midnight and Moonshadow.
When Pip and his friend Tommo find a mysterious letter with a link to the legend of the Children of Lir and the disappearance of three children, a mystery unfurls, as the middle section of the letter is missing. Much to Pip’s dismay, Tommo shares the secret with classmates Erin and Hanif, who are also eager to solve the mystery.
Themes of friendship and jealously are tightly woven into the narrative. Pip is afraid of losing his best friend Tommo to the smart, organised Erin and Hanif, a keen football player and part of the cool gang. The author skilfully portrays Pip’s gradual realisation that he can’t keep Tommo all to himself, and that there is much more to be gained than lost by widening his circle of friends. When Mum has to go to help a friend in an emergency, Pip finds himself alone overnight. At first this is an exciting prospect, but with a ghostly girl, an injured swan, and a power cut, Pip is very glad to have the support of his three friends.
A follow-on story from The Haunting of Fortune Farm that can be read as a standalone, this is an eerie, mesmerising read that will grip the reader’s attention as the children work together to outwit the sinister Mrs de Plume, a villain in the ilk of Cruella de Vil. Highly recommended.
