A gorgeous jacket made from a wood-cut illustration sets the scene in this adventure story for fantasy lovers aged 10 and up. Poor Lottie is an orphan living with a dour spinster, whose only friend in the world, Eliot, is mortally ill. Her saviour is a mysterious letter writer who sends her a magical birthday gift once a year. And the gift she wants most now is to save Eliot’s life. Suddenly a boy appears in her room and takes her through a doorway in the apple tree to another world, with sprites and wisps, treachery and betrayal. There she finds herself on a journey with three other children, a race for their very lives across the kingdom, in pursuit of a magic potion to help Eliot – the cure for the incurable.

This is a captivating, beautifully written fantasy adventure for readers who enjoyed Wildwood, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland or the Narnia chronicles.

Angela Crocombe