The Castle in the Mist

In this brilliant middle-grade fantasy, Tess and Max travel behind the walls of a magical castle where wishes really do come true — if the hawthorne trees don’t get you first. The Castle in the Mist reads like a more light-hearted, contemporary Chronicles of Narnia.

Tess and Max are sent to the English countryside for the summer and long for some excitement. So when Tess, out for a walk alone, happens upon an ornately carved gate and an old brass key, she decides to see what’s inside. To her amazement, she discovers the grounds of a castle filled with swans, bullfrogs, a hedge maze, an old-fashioned carnival, and a boy, William, just her age. William invites Tess back, and she can’t wait to return, this time with her brother.

But strange things happen at William’s castle. Carnival games are paid for in wishes, dreams seem to come alive, and then there’s William’s warning: Beware the hawthorne trees. A warning that chills Tess to the bone.

In the end it’s up to Tess to save her family and her friends from being trapped forever in the world beyond the hawthorns — but will one wish be enough?

In a novel that harkens back to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Edward Eagar’s Half Magic and the smart, kid-friendly writing of E.L. Konigsburg, Amy Ephron makes her triumphant middle grade debut.