review
A magical tale of danger, suspense and travel through time, this elegantly written and ambitious novel will be a definite hit with a 10+ readership.
Elder Moon begins in a church-cum-hospital in 1783. Johanna is watching over her little brother Samuel, who is desperately ill. In the middle of the night she sees a man with a golden chalice disappear into a painting behind the altar, and decides to follow him.
Back in the present, Nele stows away in her father’s van. A church historian, he is investigating a recent spate of thefts of religious artifacts. But her father disappears after going to meet a colleague, the sinister Dr Holzer, and so Nele – together with her friend Flavio – is forced to take the investigation into her own hands.
At night under an elder tree they meet Johanna, and discover they can slip from present to past through the altar painting. Now in a race against time to save not only Nele’s father but also Samuel, the children gradually unravel the mystery of the thefts and Dr Holzer’s dark purpose.
Wilke blends the themes of bestsellers like The Da Vinci Code with a wonderfully evocative style and a sense of narrative and pace that will make this book an undoubted winner.
All recommendations from Spring 2011