This evocative book is full of myth & folklore and is truly scary. Izzy, a lonely, neglected child on the cusp of adolescence, has moved with her parents to the remote Eshwood Hall, to work for Miss Claiborne, the elderly owner. There is tragedy in Miss Claiborne’s past – dead siblings revealed in seven little graves, discovered by Izzy close to a hidden chapel. And cranking up the unease is the presence of a Green Man living in the woods ...
As she drew closer Izzy could see it was a chapel of some kind, though evidently long since abandoned. The trees grew so close to its outer walls, their trunks rising up like pillars that it looked, she thought, like a church inside a church. What would a body do in such a place, she wondered; whisper the prayer inside the prayer? Worship the god inside the god? She was standing before it now and very much wanted to get inside, but soon found that the front door wouldn't budge. Stepping back and craning her neck, she could see that the little bell turret had three arched openings, and considered climbing up to see if she would fit through ('If you can get your head and one arm through a gap, you'll fit through it' Dad had told her once, and she'd stored the words away dutifully with other useful information), but then at the back of the chapel, she found another, smaller door, and it opened easily.
