Possibly the most excellent "what I did on my summer vacation" story ever -- ghosts, a wall of fog that people vanish into, the highlands of Scotland, and three unexpected friends making the most of summer. The kids are funny, the adventure is worrying, and the book is really hard to put down. I really enjoyed it.

Advanced Reader's Copy provided by Edelweiss. ( )

Nolie leaves her mom in Georgia to spend the summer with her dad in Scotland, where is researching the mysterious fog "Boundary" off the coast of a town called Journey's End. The fog has been hovering in the Caillte Sea for five hundred years, and is part of the town's mythology - and the basis of its tourism industry. But the fog has begun to move closer, and Nolie is more open-minded than her scientist dad - she believes in ghosts and magic, and she discovers "The Sad Tale of Cait McInnish" in a book called Legends of the North. When a boy called Albert MacLeish, who disappeared into the fog after his brother in 1918, appears unchanged on the beach in the present, Nolie and her new friend, native Journey's End girl Bel, put the pieces together and realize someone must sail into the fog to light the light in the lighthouse on the tiny island there, before the fog encroaches on the whole town and swallows it alive.

Narration is in close third person, shifting between Nolie and Bel in a way that is sometimes confusing, but that's this book's only flaw: Scotland, magical fog, time slips, history, ghosts, friendship, and a dangerous journey make for a wonderful story.

Quotes

Nolie understood that, but she wanted to point out that life was way more fun when you believed in all kinds of things. (93)

"Like a horror movie. Everyone goes looking for the people who've disappeared, and then they disappear." (Nolie to Bel, 197)

That was a trick she'd learned from what her mum always said: Say things like you don't expect an argument, and you won't get one. (Bel, 237-238) ( )

A fun, light hearted, slightly spooky read for upper elementary or middle grade readers. No violence or gore, no romance, no swearing. Just a tame but entertaining ghost story with a happy ending. I would have liked it as an adolescent. Just right for certain sensitive readers. ( )

An enjoyable novel, perfect for middle school readers grade 4 and up. This story had a lot more suspense than I expected. Nolie heads to Scotland to spend the summer with her dad who is there studying the strange fog that surrounds the entire outskirts of the town. There are stories of boats and people disappearing. Nolie quickly meets a girl her age, Bel who is a local. But Nolie also discovers a strange young boy along the beach shore, Albert. The only thing is Albert disappeared into the fog back in 1914.

What follows is a suspenseful, well written tale of a group of friends who set out to solve the mystery of the fog. I received a complimentary e-book from the publisher in exchange for a review. ( )