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Secret of Helmersbruk Manor: A Christmas Mystery (The)
by Eva Frantz
Age Range: 9-11
Twelve-year-old Flora Winter isn’t looking forward to spending the Christmas holidays in the small seaside town of Helmersbruk. It’s the 1st of December 1975 and Flora and her mother are staying in the Gatekeeper’s Cottage on the grounds of Helmersbruk Manor rented from Fridolf, a rather aloof old man. Wanting to be somewhere different for their first Christmas since the death of Flora’s father, neither of them is sure how to deal with the upcoming anniversary.
As Flora begins to explore the grounds of the rather grand, dilapidated and abandoned manor house, which looks like it’s straight out of a fairy story, she becomes intrigued and bewitched by its faded splendour. With her imagination running wild strange phenomena start to occur: vivid dreams which feel very real, a sense of déjà vu when she visits the manor house and mysterious whispering voices. Then there is the elusive white squirrel that keeps appearing, nativity figurines that turn up in all sorts of strange places and the boy with the green cap called Egon whose style of dress and speech feels like it’s from a bygone age.
When Flora discovers that Helmersbruk Manor is in danger of being pulled down to make way for a new hotel, she is distraught but determined to save it from demolition. She knows she must solve the mystery of the house and find out the truth about the local legend of the von Hiems family. What does a Christmas Eve tragedy 50 years ago have to do with Flora and her mother’s visit and what is their connection to this strange place?
Finnish author Eva Frantz is a master storyteller cleverly blurring the lines between imagination and reality. The gripping and page-turning storyline combines a hint of darkness, spooky goings-on and an intriguing mystery as well as loss, loneliness and identity. There is also a strong Christmas theme and each of the 24 chapters begins with an eerie black and white drawing by Elin Sandström and ends on a cliff-hanger. Beautifully translated by A. A. Prime from Swedish, it is an engaging read and one to relish.
Frantz is a successful writer of crime and mystery for adults, and her first children’s book was The Mystery of Raspberry Hill – winner of the Runeberg Junior Prize 2019.