Product Description

A classic children’s book for every Canadian family to treasure for all time – a story of mystery and young love in a richly detailed Canadian historical setting.

From the winner of the Governor General’s Award for Children’s Literature comes one of Canada’s best-loved, bestselling books for young readers.

In the award-winning follow-up to the beloved children’s classic, The Root Cellar, Janet Lunn brings us an enthralling historical tale of Celtic magic, kindred spirits and the struggles of pioneer life in Upper Canada.

Shadow in Hawthorn Bay introduces fifteen-year-old Mary Urquhart, a Scottish girl with a special gift – the gift of “second sight”. One morning, in the spring of 1815, Mary hears her beloved cousin Duncan calling desperately for her help. But Duncan is 3,000 miles away in Upper Canada, and to journey to him means leaving the safety and comfort of home for an unknown wilderness.

Answering the call, Mary finds herself battling dark forces in a foreign land. But as she struggles for her survival and independence, she unexpectedly finds friendship – with cheerful Yankee Patty, with Owena, the quiet Indian who recognizes the healing powers in her, and with Luke – so different from “Duncan the black.”

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40004 in Books
• Published on: 2001-08-28
• Released on: 2001-08-28
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 6.85" h x .71" w x 4.11" l, .28 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Amazon.ca
Winner of the both Canadian Library Association's Book of the Year Award and the Young Adult Book Award, Shadow in Hawthorn Bay is the second book in Janet Lunn's Hawthorn Bay trilogy, which begins with The Root Cellar and ends with The Hollow Tree. Hawthorn Bay, which plays an important role in all three novels, is based on Pleasant Bay in Ontario's Prince Edward County, where Lunn lived for more than 30 years in the farmhouse that was the setting for The Root Cellar. Shadow in Hawthorn Bay traces the overwhelmingly difficult journey that 15-year-old Mary Urquhart makes from the Highlands of Scotland to the wilderness that is just becoming Upper Canada. Mary makes the journey in part because she believes that she's heard the voice of her beloved cousin, Duncan, calling to her to come to Hawthorn Bay. Mary has "second sight" and knows that she has to leave behind all that is dear to her to come to Duncan's aid. But it's 1815 when Mary arrives, four long years since she last saw Duncan, and she discovers to her horror that Duncan is dead. Mary is a survivor, though, and she is determined to make Hawthorn Bay her home.

Lunn creates a gripping portrait of pioneer life and doesn't shy away from giving readers a taste of the harshness and brutality of life in the wilderness. But she also captures the sense of magic and mystery that the landscape evoked for early settlers and that still grips many of us today. Shadow in Hawthorn Bay is part romance, part mystery, and part historical fiction, and is one of Janet Lunn's most powerful fictions for young readers. (Ages 12 and older) --Jeffrey Canton

From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up When 15-year-old Mary Urquhart hears her cousin Duncan's voice urgently summoning her to come to him, she is not surprised, even though she is in Scotland and he is 3,000 miles away in Upper Canada. For Mary has the second sight, and she and Duncan are soulmates, more like twins than the cousins they are. Accordingly Mary stubbornly sets off to join him in the far-off Canadian wilderness of 1815. It is eloquent testimony to Lunn's skill as a novelist that she is able to integrate these psychic elements into her plot without compromising the credibility of its ample historic detail. And it is further testimony to her skill and integrity that she portrays uncompromisingly the bleakness and hardship of life on the Canadian frontier, creating, in the process, a real world populated by fully developed, real people wholike Marygrow through their experiences. Great strength of character is required to survive, and some readers may feel that Mary's strength comes off simply as stubborness. They may also be put off by the magisterial pace of the narrative and its unrelievedly bleak and melancholy tone. Few will deny its authenticity and richness. Michael Cart, Beverly Hills Public Library
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
“Janet Lunn weaves a luminous spell.” –Maclean’s

Praise for Shadow in Hawthorn Bay:
“Finely crafted… enthralling and mysterious historical fiction.” –The Globe and Mail

“A story about the mystery and tremendous strength and determination of the human spirit… Lunn’s mature writing allows her readers to feel every detail of her narrative: the harsh beauty of the Highlands, the misery of the ocean crossing, the suffocating loneliness of the forest and the warmth of friendships forged in the common struggle for survival.” –Books in Canada

“A fine, sensitive story [with] an engaging heroine… and pioneer families. Lunn has woven a rich, engrossing story of growth and self discovery…. Fine, evocative writing.” –London Free Press