Elizabeth and Zenobia

August 1, 2017

Gr 4-7-Elizabeth and Zenobia are friends. Elizabeth is timid, and Zenobia can best be described as unusual and fearless. They arrive at Witheringe House, a creepy manor where Elizabeth's father lived as a child. Zenobia loves it at first sight and is convinced that it is haunted. Eager to make contact with any spirit presence that might be found in the many secret and "off-limits" spaces in the house, Zenobia immediately begins holding seances and trying to commune with the dead. Elizabeth, however, is leery, so she is relieved when Zenobia's efforts seem unsuccessful. But strange things begin to happen in the East Wing, one of the areas that Elizabeth and Zenobia have been forbidden to explore. Flowers and vines in the wallpaper seem to come to life. The girls find a strange book whose words and images morph into different stories after the stroke of midnight. Strangest of all, Elizabeth discovers that her father had a sister, Tourmaline, who disappeared in the house when she was a young girl. With themes on courage, friendship, and imagination, Miller's novel is spooky and inviting. Older middle grade readers who have read widely in the genre might find it predictable and lacking a satisfying climax. There are questions throughout the story dealing with Zenobia's existence. Is or isn't she Elizabeth's imaginary friend? Is she a ghost? These questions will bother some readers, but others will enjoy the weirdness of it all. VERDICT Give this debut novel to readers looking for an accessible read and a bit of a scare.-Amy Caldera, Dripping Springs Middle School, TX

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 15, 2017
Debut novelist Miller concocts a blend of Gothic horror and spine-tingling mystery. Elizabeth feels lonely and forgotten when her father moves her to his ancestral home, Witheringe House, after her mother abandons the two of them. At least best friend Zenobia has come along, though with her contrary nature, Zenobia is not exactly a comfort. She's also not exactly real. That is, not to anyone except Elizabeth. Aussie Miller sets her tale in the gauzy nebulousness of the early 20th century, delivering a stunning slow burn full of creepy atmospheric tension and heartbreaking loneliness. The back-and-forth dialogue between Elizabeth and her imaginary companion is laced with tension--give and take--illustrating the tumultuous extremes of Elizabeth's psyche. Add a family nursery and wallpaper gardens in which the plant life appears real, a family cemetery, plus an alter ego in search of spirits from beyond and an ending as unpredictable as the beginning or middle--and what readers get is a fascinating tale that feels like Edgar Allen Poe, revisited. Miller's painstaking crafting of language and attention to atmospheric detail create a clever story where nothing is as it seems. Drawings reminiscent of Gorey and references to gloomy classic poetry add beguiling texture. Eerie and dazzling--a perfect book for a dark and stormy afternoon or a favorite graveyard reading spot. (Horror. 9-13)

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September 25, 2017
After Elizabeth Murmur’s mother abandons Elizabeth and her father, they move into his childhood home, Witheringe House. Accompanying Elizabeth is her constant companion Zenobia, who her father dismisses as an imaginary friend but who Elizabeth knows is something... else (“There’s a faintness about her that makes it hard to tell where she ends and the rest of the world begins”). Unlike timid, scared-of-everything Elizabeth, Zenobia adores the gloomy, fog-shrouded mansion and is obsessed with conjuring a “Spirit Presence.” Elizabeth reluctantly follows Zenobia to the forbidden East Wing of the estate to perform séances, where they unravel a mystery surrounding Elizabeth’s father’s sister, who disappeared at age seven. Rounding out the gothic atmosphere of Australian author Miller’s first children’s book is a lurking housekeeper, a magical storybook, a cemetery, and a garden tended by a gardener who the adults claim doesn’t exist; Bryksenkova’s stark b&w spot illustrations add to the overall creepiness. Readers will be absorbed by Elizabeth and Zenobia’s conversations, the complex and chilling plot, Elizabeth’s transformation from meek to brave—and the mystery of what, exactly, Zenobia is. Ages 9–13.

Starred review from August 1, 2017
Grades 4-7 *Starred Review* Elizabeth's best friend Zenobia (others might claim she's imaginary, but she's vividly real to Elizabeth) is utterly convinced there's a ghost at Witheringe House, and she's determined to use all her divining skills to find it. Elizabeth is terrified at the prospect, but she joins the hunt anyway, especially after mysterious pages of a fairy tale about a magical kingdom of plants appear in a book only at midnight, and she learns about her father's late sister, Tourmaline, who disappeared from Witheringe House at age seven. Elizabeth and Zenobia's polar-opposite personalities make the mood pretty playful at the beginning, but debut author Miller keeps the story certifiably eerie, thanks to a creepy gardener, weed-choked hedge maze, and mutating wallpaper in the abandoned nursery. As Elizabeth gets braver and more insistent on finding Tourmaline, Miller amplifies the wondrous-yet-weird elements of Witheringe House until they snowball into ghastly, creeping nightmares. Her spare, evocative language and direct sentences contribute to the suspenseful pacing, particularly toward the end, when the Plant Kingdom gets truly invasive. Comical characters, ghost story tropes, and a lively pair of intrepid protagonists help keep this spooky novel from getting too scary, and Bryksenkova's faux-naif illustrations contribute. Fans of Kenneth Oppel's The Nest (2015) will appreciate this similarly atmospheric, haunting tale.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)