A SHADOW IN THE PAST (Review)

Take a stone circle and a boy and girl dressed in old-timey clothes playing at the circle. Mix with an old mansion that has a history. Add a surprise or two. Stir, and you end up with a mystery, a girl’s dream, and a seemingly impossible romance.

Sarah Shand loved the stories her grandmother told about Weetshill mansion. She knew that someday she would live there. The problem was, the mansion was old and falling down and no one had lived there since the 1950’s. Sarah still believed, however, as only a nine-year-old could believe.

Fast forward ten years. Distraught over her breakup with her boyfriend, Sarah runs away to the mansion, where she swallows sleeping pills, passes out, and awakens in a different time and place. Author Melanie Robertson-King’s debut YA novel, A SHADOW IN THE PAST, is not only a time travel story, it’s also a story of love, family, and making choices. The author takes the reader back to a simpler time period, the Victorian era, where people dress and talk differently, and where Sarah certainly does not belong. Or does she?

A SHADOW IN THE PAST has it all: good guys and bad guys, hope and despair, a gentle romance challenged by others. Of course, that’s what makes an interesting story, someone causing trouble for the heroine and hero. Sarah faces many challenges to discover who she is and what she wants, and the choices she makes affect not only herself but those she loves as well. Melanie Robertson-King has written a delightful story for teens and older readers too. So pick up a copy for yourself and another for your favorite teen and settle down for a good read.
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