The House on the Edge
Faith’s dad has gone missing, her mum is refusing to get out of bed, and her younger brother has started talking to a sea ghost in the cellar. Their house is balanced precariously on the edge of a crumbling cliff, with the crack in the ground growing bigger every day. Can things get any more complicated? Yes, of course they can.
After a slow start, The House on the Edge picks up pace and rattles along energetically. Alex Cotter blends humour and pathos effectively as she writes of missing treasure, supernatural goings-on and a family disintegrating as rapidly as the eroding rocks beneath them. Faith is a believable narrator, hiding fear and vulnerability behind a prickly exterior as she fends off awkward questions from nosy neighbours, concerned teachers and interfering relatives.
The narrative takes several unexpected turns, with a double twist towards the end that caught this reader totally by surprise. The conclusion is both sad and sweet, as Faith learns that you can treasure the past while also moving on, and that a proper home is about so much more than mere bricks and mortar.
