Roll up, roll up, the Scareground is in town! Twelve-year-old Nancy Crumpet lives above a bakery and her life is a delightful mix of flour, salt, and love. Yet her mind is brimming with questions no one can answer: Why did her birth parents disappear? Why can she speak with the sky? And why must she keep her mysterious birthmark hidden? Everything is about to change when the Scareground returns to Greenwich. Nancy is convinced it holds the answers to her parents' disappearance. Nancy and her best friend Arthur Green meet the fair's spooky owner, Skelter, and discover a world full of dark magic and mystery. Nancy must confront her greatest fears to get to the truth. But is she ready for all the secrets the Scareground will reveal?
What a read! Some of my favourite characters and books - Phillip Pullman's Lyra, and Katherine Rundell's Rooftoppers - start off with a character running over rooftops and getting involved in dark and scary mysteries and family dramas, so Scareground was a surefire hit for me right from the start!
Following orphan Nancy Crumpet as she tries to unravel her mysterious past, whilst also trying to work out the mysteries and secrets behind the mysterious Scareground fair, this is a fast paced, and quite dark at times, children’s thriller that left me on the edge of my seat at times, gripped to find out what would happen!
Mysterious figures, family secrets, dark forces, fairground urchins, a bakery with dflicious treats....this book has all the ongredients and elements of a first-rate children's classic, and I think it would make an amazing animated movie....Tim Burton would be the ideal choice for making it, too!
Author Angela Kecojevic creates a brilliantly dark flawed character in Skelter, countered fantastically by the kind and determined to do right Nancy. The scary fairground is brilliantly created fantastical world, and you'll never look at dark feathers on the ground the same again!
AUTHOR DETAILS:
Angela Kecojevic is a senior librarian, author and creative writing tutor. She has written for the Oxford Reading Tree programme and the multi-award-winning adventure park Hobbledown where her characters can be seen walking around, something she still finds incredibly charming! She is a member of the Climate Writers Fiction League, a group of international authors who use climate issues in their work. Angela lives in the city of Oxford with her family.
My thanks to the publisher, Neem Tree Press, Random Things Tours and author for having me on the blogtour ( apologies for the delay in posting due to family issues).
Scareground is out now.
Find out more and order a copy at:
Review by Rich Simpson ( @richreadalot) September 2023