Tilly’s heart sinks. Will’s at the door of their cottage, daring her to come ice-skating up at Frost Hollow Hall. No one goes near the place these days. Rumour has it that the house is haunted… Ten years ago the young heir, Kit Barrington, drowned there in the lake. But Tilly never turns down a dare.
Then it goes horribly wrong. The ice breaks, Tilly falls through and almost drowns. At the point of death, a beautiful angel appears in the water and saves her. Kit Barrington’s ghost.
Kit needs Tilly to solve the mystery of his death, so that his spirit can rest in peace. In order to discover all she can, Tilly gets work as a maid at Frost Hollow Hall. But the place makes her flesh crawl. It’s all about the dead here, she’s told, and in the heart of the house she soon discovers all manner of dark secrets…
Frost Hollow Hall is actually a children’s book but you know over here we don’t turn our noses up at young adult and children’s novels. This book is easily enjoyable for people much older than the target audience. The story flows nicely and packs enough mystery into it to keep an adult reader hooked.
Personally I’d have liked a little more context of the era to shine through but I can understand why this was left out of a book aimed at 9-11 year old’s. However I was left wanting more of this aspect given that the title ‘queen of historical fiction’ is bandied around on the cover!
Overall I found the novel, to be a highly enjoyable and an easy read that kept me turning the pages night after night. The only let down for me was I found the language to be quite jarring at times, especially Tilly’s use of the word ‘flip’. I don’t think it was at all necessary to seemingly dumb down the language at times when dealing with maturer topics as well, it just seemed too much of a contradiction and something that felt completely unnecessary for the target audience and annoying for an adult audience.
Rating: ★★★★☆
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