From the back cover: "Shane threw his legs over the edge of the cliff, turned, grabbed the rope and began to go down... He was amazed to find Eric only halfway down, pointing urgently along the cliff-face towards something red, further down - a red jersey - Judith Clearwater! What was she doing there, on the side of the cliff...?" Why had Judith tried to climb up the cliff to Biddy Bristow's ramshackle house perched at the top? Perhaps she was hoping to find out if the old woman was really a witch..."
This is another children's novel Ruth Dallas wrote at the University of Otago during her Robert Burns Fellowship residency.
Unlike her other children's novels, this story is set for a slightly higher age group and I'm assuming the audience would be girls.
The back cover gives no indication what the story is really about. Judith lives with her parents in a small seaside town. Her school friend, Brenda, comes to live with them because her farm home is too far away from the local school. Judith is afraid of a local old woman called Biddy Bristow and she thinks she is a witch. Old Biddy walks about the beach with a rake looking for mystery objects and when the local children ask her what she is looking for, all she says is, "A bell to ring when the wind blows".
Judith is an overthinker who feels deeply while Brenda is practical and doesn't put up with Judith's silly fantasies, but the two girls get on well. The story concludes satisfactorily with a cliff-face rescue and the mystery of Biddy's "bell" being found.
Underneath the lines of the story you learn about loneliness and freedom, and just because someone lives alone doesn't necessarily mean they are lonely.
Here are examples of pages from the book...
The black and white illustrations are by Gavin Rowe.
Ruth Dallas' wonderful way of writing is evident once again in the text - her lovely play of words and descriptions. I found some of the dialogue between the two girls a bit contrived. I recommend this story from 10 years old.
I have no content considerations with this book.