Monsters in the Mist

Thirteen-year-old Glennon McCue, his older sister Lee, and their mother are staying with their uncle Job, a lighthouse keeper, while their father attends a teaching fellowship overseas. When an accident leaves Job’s previous post on Lake Superior’s coast inhospitable, he is reassigned to the lighthouse on Isle Philippeaux, which is not accounted for on any maps. Over the course of their stay, Glennon and Lee encounter eerie rats, extreme and unprecedented weather, and terrifying ghosts, lending credence to their belief that the island’s inhabitants are hiding something frightening. Days before their scheduled departure, the family realizes they can’t find a way off Isle Philippeaux, and Glennon worries that supernatural forces are trapping them there. The McCue siblings exhibit signs of PTSD and, through Glennon’s memories of his verbally abusive father and the island’s immediate and engrossing mysteries, they tentatively confront their trauma. The supernatural and interpersonal story lines offer a hard-won tale of freeing oneself from both internal and external limitations. Brandt’s (A Wilder Magic) writing is lyrical—the gale force wind almost feels like its own character—and the narrative atmosphere proves harrowing. Most characters cue as white. Ages 8–12. Agent: Natalie Lakosil, Bradford Literary. (May)