Fire and Hemlock

This is a confusing but intriguing novel, hampered by trying to do too much in the space of one story, changing beyond recognition over the course of its 400 odd pages. Polly is a child of ten when she first stumbles into the mysterious Hundson House and finds herself attending a funeral. Sinister overtones are already intimated and the eerie, other-worldly unreality of the situation escalates as she is befriended by Tom, a middle-aged man who seems at odds with the rest of his family. Together, he and Polly start inventing imaginary, heroic games which unfortunatley have the nasty habit of coming true in various, wierd ways. Tom is clearly frightened and tries to stop contact with Polly. She is determined not to let this happen as her family life has collapsed and Tom is the only kind, stable adult (apart from her Granny) in her life. Meanwhile she is also being menaced in a very real way by Mr. Leroy, the owner of Hundson House, and his son Sebastian. The plot becomes increasingly complicated, moving across the years until Polly is nineteen and at Oxford University. But it appears that she has two parallel lives, or two sets of memories about her teenage years. She is now engaged to Sebastian, with no memory of her involvement with his family or any recall of Tom, until she picks up a book of magical stories which spark the memory. Part witchcraft, part fantasy, this is also a book about love, sexual awakening, forbidden attraction and much more. In fact, it's several books rolled into one. Whilst maintaining atmosphere and interest its over-complicated plot in the end disappoints. (Kirkus UK)