The Four Seasons of Lucy Mckenzie by Kirsty Murray

The Four Seasons of Lucy Mckenzie by Kirsty Murray
Buy The Four Seasons of Lucy Mckenzie by Kirsty Murray at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Confident Readers
Reviewer: Louise Jones
Summary: A young girl discovers windows to the past that lead to adventure, friendship, loss and redemption in this absorbing and beautifully written novel, set in the Australian countryside.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 216	Date: March 2014
Publisher: Allen & Unwin Children's Books
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 9781743361245
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For the first time in her life, Lucy dreaded Christmas.

She has been sent to stay with her Great-Aunt Big, who lives in a homestead in the Australian wilderness. Her family, meanwhile, will be spending Christmas in Paris, tending to Lucy’s older sister who is in a coma following a tragic accident. Lucy is deeply worried about her big sister and understands why she has been left behind, but she is filled with trepidation at the idea of spending such a long time with her eccentric Aunt, miles away from civilization without even as much as a mobile phone signal.

After an awkward settling in period, Lucy is awoken one night by a strange noise coming from downstairs. One of the rooms, the inside-outside room, is filled with beautiful paintings depicting the four seasons and the noise seems to be coming from inside. Lucy notices to her surprise and delight that the painting depicting Spring is shimmering and glowing and the girl in the painting seems to be calling out to her. Lucy takes a leap of faith and walks right into the painting, where a new world awaits, which feels both alien and familiar at the same time. Is there a connection between Lucy and April, the girl in the picture? Over the course of the story, Lucy enters each painting in turn in a bid to unravel the secrets surrounding the homestead and its colourful inhabitants.

When I first saw the book description about a girl entering another world through a painting, I was worried that the story would be a modern rehash of old children’s classics. I am glad that my scepticism was unfounded and the story, although giving a respectful nod to favourites like the Narnia books and Tom’s Midnight Garden, offered something completely fresh and new thanks to the gorgeous setting of the Australian countryside. Just as the paintings in the story are magical, so is Murray’s rich descriptive prose, which whisked me away to the other side of the world in an instant. Indeed, the heart of the story lies within its beautiful rendering of each season, which sets each scene so perfectly.

I felt that the artwork let the book down slightly. Whilst the word-pictures were strong, evocative and vivid, the actual illustrations were quite bland and poorly drawn and the cover art was quite mediocre. I don’t think the art did justice to the content of the book and a potential reader may easily overlook it in a bookshop or library, which is a terrible shame.

The Four Seasons of Lucy McKenzie is primarily a story about family, relationships, missed opportunities and redemption. It is about bridging the generation gap and realising that age doesn’t have to be a barrier to friendship. I was enraptured by the storyline and greedily devoured the whole book in one sitting. I cannot praise this book highly enough.

If travelling through paintings to other worlds is your thing, you may enjoy The Secret Mirror (Emily Feather) by Holly Webb

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