Author(s): Linda Newbery

Middle Fiction 8-12-year-olds

When 11-year-old Matt befriends old Wil, he unwittingly brings the past to life and unravels a well-kept village mystery. New house, new school, new friends - but Matt Lanchester knows it won't all be that easy when he moves from Milton Keynes to Hay-on-Wye. Almost as soon as he arrives he is drawn into a mystery when he sees a roadside memorial marked by a little wooden cross with the initials M.L carved into it. His initials! Then he meets Robbo and Tig and Old Wil Jones and his wife, Gwynnie. There's history here and a well kept village secret - and Matt is desperate to find out more. His new acquaintances are keener on taunting Wil - Wil, the murderer. But that's not Matt' s style. Befriending Wil, and with a sense of a shadowy figure always close by, he learns about a tragedy in the past, helps set the record straight and finally lay to rest the ghost of boy he feels he's come to know. Linda Newbery effortlessly mixes the old with the new, the past with the present, tragedy with triumph as she writes about communities and individuals, facing challenges and being accepted. First published 2005.