This book does a great job of melding the modern world and the real
Challenges young people face at school with the old Irish folk law. The beginning really captured me, with the mix of the reality facing Rose at her new school and the similar challenges of modern life at home. Parents working hard and having a family to support and look after. Rose being the eldest and feeling she is having to keep her problems to herself, makes her a character I’m sure many young people will identify with.
In addition, the friendship Rose has found with Nellie and Gracie is very sweet and gives her at least an oasis of understanding.
This day to day life is then swept away after Rose has a magical encounter.
The main difficulty for me was accessing the mythology. The book begins with a useful, but protracted story explanation of the characters and myths we will meet along the way. Whilst this sets the scene for a mythology I wasn’t familiar with, it make it take longer to get to and get into the story. If reading with younger people, I think I would skip this and refer to it as needed, rather than start from here. To grip them with the actual action first