The Book of Secrets

As the world changes at an ever speedier rate, folk tales and stories of magical creatures feel more important and vital than ever, providing a link to the old ways and playing a special role in a child’s imaginative world. Alex Dunne’s enthralling story is set at Samhain, Hallowe’en, the time when the walls between the worlds are thin and her protagonist, eleven-year-old Caitriona Donnelly, encounters all sorts of strange folk, some beautiful, most terrible, all untrustworthy. When her little brother and her best friend’s little sister are stolen by the Pooka to be presented to the queen of the fairies as playthings, Cat must get them back. She is accompanied in this by Shane, their old friendship brought back to life as they struggle to find their siblings, but is also helped and guided by the words and stories of her grandmother, who, like Cat, has ‘the Sight’, both providing much needed support for Cat and reassurance for readers when things get dark – and they do get very dark indeed. Cat and Shane face life or death situations, and we meet numerous children whose own meetings with the fairies have ended cruelly. The story is compact and fast-paced, events moving with the urgency of the race against the clock this is, and it makes for thrilling reading. Dunne’s conjuring of the old ways is wholly convincing, real and magical successfully fused together. It’s particularly satisfying that Cat’s final, life-saving escape trick from the king and queen of the fairies makes use of a piece of 21^st century magic.

Readers outside Ireland may not be familiar with Clurichauns, the Dullahan or Merrows, but they’ll believe in them all by the time they close this story of magic, menace and mortal persistence.