THE CHILDREN OF CASTLE ROCK
WHeN her family home is sold after the death of her adored mother, alice, 11, is packed off to an eccentric Scottish boarding school by her feckless actor father, Barney.
Despite her fears, she makes friends with boys Jesse and Fergus and invites her father to the school’s Visitors’ Day.
after he fails, as usual, to turn up, she receives a mysterious package from him and a note asking her to deliver it to an old castle on a remote island. Using the school’s Orienteering challenge as a cover, she enlists her pals’ help, dodging criminals with guns along the way.
a joyously old- fashioned, Blyton- esque hymn to unsupervised childhoods, this fast-paced, witty adventure has undertones of grief and shows the power of friendship to heal the disappointment of adults’ emotional neglect.