Wendington Jones and the Missing Tree
Daniel Dockery
uclan publishing

The story opens with Wendington Jones learning that her adventuring, anthropologist mother has died in a car crash. A mother who had always been Wendington’s inspiration and idol; indeed she’d always dreamed of following in her mother’s footsteps one day. Feeling that her world has been turned on its head, Wendington is left to grieve in the care of her Grandmamma and the valet Rohan but then a small light appears in her dark. Delivered at midnight to the family home is a parcel containing her mother’s last and incomplete manuscript revealing the discovery of the mythical Tree of Life – an ancient curiosity said to bring the dead back to life. Could it perhaps bring, her mother, Pennington, back to life?

So, bag packed, her mother’s ticket for the SS Pembroke in hand and her trusted friend Perceval the newt safely tucked away, she heads off in the dead of night, destination Freemantle, Australia.

Irresistible as the thought of bringing her mother back to life may be, Wendington is not the only person searching for the legendary tree and not all those so doing can be trusted. However, this young lass is nothing like your stereotypical 1920s girl: she’s a risk-taker, brave, quick-witted, caring and thoughtful of others and hugely determined.

Readers will immediately find themselves rooting for Wendington as she pursues her quest, a quest that is truly gripping and sometimes surreal. The plot twists and turns, as more is revealed about some of the other characters, especially Rohan, till it reaches its unexpected ending.

A brilliant book : absolutely unputdownable – older KS2 readers and beyond will love exercising their detective skills as they read this.