A spooky old town called Barrow. The legendary Bogwitch who is said take one child every time the town floods in retaliation for an historical wrong. A secretive society that protects Barrow’s heritage.
Lewis finds himself chased by rooks as his family move to his father’s home town of Barrow so Lewis can sit a scholarship examination for the school his father always dreamed of entering. The problem is, Lewis and his Dad are two different people. When a girl called Moria – or at least that’s what everyone thinks her name is – turns up at his doorstep, Lewis finds himself in a race to connect the dots of Barrow’s mysterious past before he and his family are separated for good – and Barrow floods once again.
The characters are so well created. There’s Lewis, the chess champion who is more like his late grandfather than his entrepreneurial father. There’s Moira – who so we think she is called – who turns up at their door dripping wet and confused and who makes lists of what is being said and is intrigued by everyday objects like televisions and mobile phones. Railway buff Hereward seems surprised that anyone wants to talk to him even though his mother is pushing him to network. And Leopold Marlow, heir to the fortune of Marlow Hall, who takes pleasure in picking on other children’s weaknesses – but seems to sad himself. It was refreshing that the main character’s moment of empathy came not with an obvious victim but with antagonising, rude Leopold. It made the characters rounder and more lifelike and the relations between them more interesting for it.
Barrow, too, is a wonderful setting and it shows how the most apparently boring places can be fascinating if you get to know their communities and histories and landscapes and folk legends. I adore this because I’ve always loved nosing around random places. I love the tradition of The Peering of the Goblet that is on when Lewis and his family arrive in the village and that introduces us properly to the folktale and the significance the townsfolk place upon it. It also introduces Barrow’s geography.
I adore books based around folk stories and classic time slip like Charlotte Sometime and this is a happy meeting of the two genres. The Midnight Switch has that wonderful quality that will keep readers awake well past bedtime, turning the pages under the duvet, and begging for just one more chapter. What more could a reader want?
- The Midnight Switch by Samuel J. Halpin is available now from Usborne Publishing Limited. RRP. £7.99 (Provided for review)
