The Cradle of all Worlds: The Jane Doe Chronicles (Book 1)

As might be inferred from the fact that the subtitle is The Jane Doe Chronicles, this is the first book and a debut, in what is expected to be a four-book series from a new Australian author.  This very exciting first instalment sees Jane Doe, so named because no one knows who she is, having arrived with her father onto the island of Bluehaven in mysterious circumstances. Her father, named John Doe, is mentally ill, and she is occupied in looking after him and trying to fit in to a world where she is not accepted and taunted by local youths. What little education she has was gained by listening outside a classroom window, and from the strange older lady, Winifred, who looked after her when she first arrived in the town as a baby. In the meantime she and her father have been reluctantly cared for by a grumpy couple, the Hollows, though their daughter Violet is not like them and has become a friend.

Fourteen years later, Winifred tells her that her destiny awaits. At a festival, her father disappears into The Manor, a spooky building at the top of a lot of stairs, and Jane has to try to rescue him.  There are other people and creatures living in The Manor which turns out to be full of other worlds (hence the title of this book) and time is not always consistent, with doors that disappear and walls that move- Jane has to keep her wits about her, but the reader should not have any trouble keeping up.  She makes a friend, Hickory, but can he be trusted?  There is a very nasty and foul-smelling evil genius who seems to be after her, and his leather jacketed wolf creatures are really vicious. It is an exciting story- there are cavernous passages, secret doors, carnivorous trees, battles to be fought with all sorts of creatures and a few surprises before she can find her father, who has recovered his wits and can explain, partly, what is going on and what happened to her mother. Jane is brave and fiercely loyal to her father, with a much-needed sense of humour, but she has flaws, and she is tested in many ways before a sort of resolution leaves us waiting on tenterhooks for the next book…