Hannah Rose Brown was not quite thirteen years old when she discovered her family was cursed.
The day she first heard about the curse of Wintersloe Castle was the day her life was slashed in two, as if by a silver sword. Behind her was an ordinary life, just like any other girl’s. Ahead was a life shadowed with mystery and menace and magic.
Hannah has never met her father, who disappeared the day after she was born. So, when a letter comes from her great-grandmother asking her and her mother to come to Scotland, Hannah is determined to go.
In Scotland Hannah discovers that not only is she the heir to a castle, but that her family has been suffering a mysterious curse for over four hundred years. Only the person who finds and solves the puzzle ring can lift the curse. Hannah is determined that she will be the one.
The Puzzle Ring is a wonderful time-travel fantasy, taking readers from Australia to Scotland, then back in time to the days of Mary, Queen of Scots. Hannah befriends three children her own age (all born in the same Scottish town as Hannah within days of each other) and the four work together to find the pieces of the puzzle ring, save Hannah’s father and restore the family’s good fortune.
The Puzzle Ring is an absorbing blend of action, fantasy and mystery, with the different threads coming together in a satisfying resolution. Suitable for upper primary aged readers.
The Puzzle Ring, by Kate Forsyth
Pan Macmillan, 2009
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