Melusine - Softcover

Banks, Lynne Reid

3.58

200 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0380791358 ISBN 13: 9780380791354

Publisher: HarperTeen, 1997

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What is the sinister mystery of Chateau Bois Serpe? Roger, his parents, and twin sisters arrive at this crumbling ruin in the wilds of France, anticipating a holiday that's "different." And so it proves, but not as they'd hoped. The owner, the strange daughter Mesuline, whom Roger first meets tending her father's goats. She is like no girl he has ever seen, with her brusqueness and her expressionless black eyes, and as he gradually befriends her, he begins to realize that there is something very wrong about her, about the chateau, and about her life within it. Roger senses a cry for help. How can he know that by trying to answer it, he will involve himself and his family in a shocking drama that reaches its climax in a grisly discovery -- and sudden death?

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About the Author:

Lynne Reid Banks was born in London. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, she acted and wrote for the repertory stage. Later, she turned to journalism, becoming one of Britain's first female television news reporters. In 1962 she emigrated to Israel, where she married a sculptor, had three sons and taught for eight years in a kibbutz. She now lives with her husband in England. She writes, travels, and visits schools, at home and abroad, full-time. Among Lynne Reid Banks's popular novels for young readers are Angela and Diabola; Harry the Poisonous Centipede; The Fairy Rebel; The Farthest-Away Mountain; The Adventures of King Midas; The Magic Hare; Maura's Angel; and the award-winning Indian in the Cupboard books.

From Publishers Weekly:

The chateau at which Roger and his family arrive for vacation is not what they had hoped; apart from a few resplendent rooms, the place is rundown and dirty. Roger instantly christens the owner, Monsieur Serpe, an ogre, and sets out to befriend his lovely daughter Melusine by helping her milk her goats. But Roger stumbles into mythic elements and family intrigue: a forbidden locked tower beckons Roger, and Melusine seems to be not only the victim of abuse, but of much darker secrets as well. Banks ( The Writing on the Wall ; Indian in the Cupboard ) piles illusion upon illusion, hemming Roger into his ultimate choices but also revealing his compassion and faith in incredible facts. Roger and all his family's members are deftly created, and the author's handling of fairy-tale archetypes (the ogre and his accursed daughter) borders on the sublime. A complex and vastly entertaining gothic novel. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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