In the Shadows

Sisters Cora and Minnie have never seen the witch living on the hill, but one day Cora falls from the witch’s tree and the witch tells her someone will die. The next day, Cora’s father is dead.

Arthur has always been haunted by his father’s disappearance and his mother’s suicide. While staying at the sisters’ boarding house, he becomes protective of the sisters and their mother.

Brothers Charles and Thom have been sent to the boarding house so that Charles can convalesce. They become friends with Cora, Minnie, and Arthur. On an excursion around town, the five end up seeing the witch’s suicide, but after searching the house they find no trace of the body. As they delve deeper and deeper into the witch’s history, they discover secrets that endanger their very lives.

This book has two stories going on. One happens through the text, and the other through the illustrations. The book does a nice job of tying the two together. The illustrations were creepy and informative. Things moved very quickly, but I feel that there were several loose ends that were not resolved. But this added to the overall mysteriousness of the book. It was slightly creepy and certainly eerie.