Wormwood Mire by Judith Rossell
Harper Collins, 2016. ISBN 9780733333019
(Age: 9-12) Highly recommended. Feisty Stella Montgomery returns in
another wonderfully exciting adventure - Wormwood Mire.
Orphan Stella is in disgrace, after her escapades in
Withering-by-Sea. Life with her puritanical aunts is full of rules
and limitations. When a fortuitous letter arrives, they are relieved
of the onerous task of raising Stella. She is sent to Wormwood Mire,
her family's country estate, to be cared for by a governess along
with her cousins Strideforth and Hortense. Let the adventures begin!
On the long train journey, Stella reads A Garden of Lillies, a book
filled with cautionary tales and rhyming mottoes, given to her by
the aunts, 'Be neat and tidy, clean and trim, or your ending will be
grim.' These come back to haunt her throughout the narrative.
Stella is extremely worried, when the coachman leaves her, in the
pouring rain on the front portico of the dark, spooky looking
mansion. Finally when the door opens, she is greeted by her
welcoming cousins, Strideforth and Hortense, and Henry the
Latin-speaking mollymawk, Stella is quickly drawn into their strange
and unusual lifestyle, limited heating, simple food and freedom to
read and explore. Wormwood Mire is a dark, cold house with a
multitude of closed off rooms, hidden passageways and secret spaces.
Miss Araminter their governess is an eccentric botanist who loves to
explore the overgrown gardens and gather the strange plants
collected by Wilberforce Montgomery, the children's ancestor.
Before she left the strictures of life with her Aunts, Stella had
discovered an old photograph of her mother Patience at Wormwood Mire
with two babies in an old-fashioned pram. Did she have a twin
sister? What had happened to her? In the old nursery, Stella's
distant memories of life at Wormwood Mire resurface when she listens
to the tune played on an old music box.
There is mystery and mayhem, odd happenings in the woods, quirky
characters and strange disappearances, all the required elements
woven into this fabulous Victorian mystery-thriller. This
beautifully bound book, with a textured cover, embellishments, a
forest green font and full-page illustrations is a sensory delight,
reminiscent of books published many years ago. Judith Rossell's
detailed pictures bring the descriptive narrative to life; they are
evocative, capturing the atmosphere of the story. Delicate vignettes
of stacks of books, strange plants, the slithering monster, jars
piled with teeth, all add to the charm of this story.
Wormwood Mire is a sensational, richly rewarding story, which
celebrates one girl's indomitable spirit.
Rhyllis Bignell