This is a really captivating book which has a haunting, dream-like quality to the writing that I found beautiful to read and perfect for the story being told.
Fifteen year old Natasha lives with her mother in a coastal town where holiday-makers stay for the summer. Natasha has psychic abilities which give her visions and intuitions of people and future events. Over the summer when this book is set, there is the arrival of Mr Bowen, a man who rents a room from her mother and proceeds to start a relationship with her, and the arrival of some mysterious lights above the town which Natasha feels are a dark and supernatural warning. This feeling is realised when a teenager in the town goes missing after becoming entranced by the lights.
The plot of this book is slow and focuses predominantly on the characters and atmosphere of the town in response to the lights and missing teenager. Natasha is an outcast among her peers due to her gift which is feared and ridiculed in equal measure and we see her journey of working out how best to use her abilities and becoming more aware of its impact on others. I loved how this progression was handled and combined with her close relationship with her mother, I found her to be a brilliantly developed character.
The pacing of the book won't be to everyone's taste but I found that the writing really drew me in and the narrative structure continuously builds the sense of mystery as we get hints at things to come throughout. A wonderful escapist read.
Fifteen year old Natasha lives with her mother in a coastal town where holiday-makers stay for the summer. Natasha has psychic abilities which give her visions and intuitions of people and future events. Over the summer when this book is set, there is the arrival of Mr Bowen, a man who rents a room from her mother and proceeds to start a relationship with her, and the arrival of some mysterious lights above the town which Natasha feels are a dark and supernatural warning. This feeling is realised when a teenager in the town goes missing after becoming entranced by the lights.
The plot of this book is slow and focuses predominantly on the characters and atmosphere of the town in response to the lights and missing teenager. Natasha is an outcast among her peers due to her gift which is feared and ridiculed in equal measure and we see her journey of working out how best to use her abilities and becoming more aware of its impact on others. I loved how this progression was handled and combined with her close relationship with her mother, I found her to be a brilliantly developed character.
The pacing of the book won't be to everyone's taste but I found that the writing really drew me in and the narrative structure continuously builds the sense of mystery as we get hints at things to come throughout. A wonderful escapist read.