Blurb

Roll up, roll up, the Scareground is in town!

Twelve-year-old Nancy Crumpet lives above a bakery and her life is a delightful mix of flour, salt, and love. Yet her mind is brimming with questions no one can answer: Why did her birth parents disappear? Why can she speak with the sky? And why must she keep her mysterious birthmark hidden?

Everything is about to change when the Scareground returns to Greenwich. Nancy is convinced it holds the answers to her parents’ disappearance. Nancy and her best friend Arthur Green meet the fair’s spooky owner, Skelter, and discover a world full of dark magic and mystery. Nancy must confront her greatest fears to get to the truth. But is she ready for all the secrets the Scareground will reveal?

Review

This is a strong debut by Angela Kecojevic, bringing us a story steeped in family secrets, traditions, friendship, differences and a few scares thrown in for good measure.

The author has built a world around the Victorian era we know, bringing a sense of fear and dread to it by adding in illusions (or are they just tricks) that mess with your eyes and your mind, whilst Nancy and Arthur dig deep to brave the dangers and face their fears to get to the bottom of Nancy’s links to Skelter Tombola and the Scareground.

Nancy’s relationship with/to the sky is an added element that we are never quite sure is an advantage or will bring her more peril.

Whilst the ending brought some answers for Nancy, there is definitely more to her past and her special abilities than revealed here, leaving the door wide open to further speculation and hope that there will be a second novel on the way.

Special mention must also go to the map at the start…I do love a book map.

Thank you to @NeemTreePress and @The_WriteReads for an advance copy in exchange for this review.