In the wake of the Harry Potter phenomenon, Black Maria, an old
favourite from well-loved children's writer Wynne Jones, has been
dressed up in Hess's appealing illustrations and marched back out
onto our bookshelves. When Mig, a young writer, goes to
Cranberry-on-Sea with her mother and brother Chris to look after
aged Aunt Maria, she soon has a few questions. Why do the
townswomen gather around Aunt Maria under her sugar-coated command
while the zombie-like men skulk around in silence? Why are the only
children in town shut up in a forbidding orphanage? If the family
car really crashed into the sea, killing Mig's errant father, how
could she have seen it parked in Cranberry? Mig and Chris set out
to solve the mystery with the help of the ghost in Chris's bedroom,
and they are soon up to their necks in magic and mayhem. The book
is lots of fun, but is also unafraid to explore the darker side of
human nature. In Aunt Maria's stifling politeness we see how people
control others through passive aggression. Through the women's
domination of their men, we learn that power must be balanced. With
Mig we find out that repressed feelings suffocate personal freedom.
And with ghosts, curses, people transformed into animals, time
travel and dark secrets from the past, Black Maria will delight
Pottermaniacs everywhere. (Kirkus UK)
On the surface, Aunt Maria seems like a cuddly old lady, all
chit-chat and lace doilies and unadulterated NICEness! When Mig and
her family go for a short visit, they soon learn that Aunt Maria
rules the place with a rod of sweetness that's tougher than iron
and deadlier than poison. Life revolves around tea parties, while
the men are all grey-suited zombies who fade into the background,
and the other children seem like clones. The short visit becomes a
long stay, and when all talk of going home ceases, Mig despairs!
Things go from bad to worse when Mig's brother Chris tries to
rebel, but is changed into a wolf . Mig is convinced that Aunt
Maria must be a witch - but who will believe her? It's up to Mig to
figure out what's going on. Maybe the ghost who haunts the
downstairs bedroom holds the key?
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