Throughout the story, as a reader, you are asking where her parents are, why are the aunt and uncle so cruel and why is she always locked away? Clementine has only ever known servitude and imprisonment in the smoke and grime and grey of the Great Black City. Gilbert, the Grimbles, are intriguing characters, well written and rounded and I loved reading this book! A mix between Harry Potter and Matilda it had so much potential but the latter half just let it down.

Clementine was abused and hurt all her life and she's determined to survive and escape from her prison and her awful relative.Here was weatherboard suburbia that stretched like an infinite Legoland, and Japanese cars that shone in the sun with a migrainous glare. Il suo unico alleato è un gatto di nome Gilbert che, più coraggioso di lei, trova sempre il modo di sfuggire alle grinfie di zia Vermilia, andando e venendo a piacimento. There is such excitement in Wormell's scenes and landscapes, plus a wonderful Dickensian sense of the grotesque in his characters.

I was certain that I had already seen the Castle of If where the Count of Monte Cristo was imprisoned.

La protagonista és una nena òrfena, i la seva història és força clàssica i m’ha recordat a molts llibres que llegia de petita. and that's how I feel about my life right now—without trying to sound too hippy dippy or cosmic, this year has definitely been a magical one.

Ad allietare in qualche modo le giornate tristi e grigie di Clementine, c’è Gilbert, un gatto che la aiuterà a trovare il suo posto magico. You had to crawl in and once you were inside, it was like there were different rooms, and you could actually lay in the branches. From the front cover to the author’s own illustrations, Chris Wormell has fashioned an absolute visual delight, with each and every page a thing of beauty. Thanks to jet lag, I am awake at odd hours and tired at others so this kept me awake and happy this evening.Might Gilbert lead her to ‘ The Magic Place‘, revealing truths behind Aunt Vermilia and Uncle Rufus?