SHADOWS ON THE MOON

This looks from its cover to be yet another soppy story about blighted love in a soft-focus, supernatural setting. The reality is anything but. Marriott writes with limpid grace, cleverly transforming the Cinderella story to ancient Japan. When her father is shockingly murdered at the request of her shortly to be step-father, fourteen-year-old Suzume can only escape the same fate by calling on her powers of shadow weaving, enabling her to escape detection by making others see her differently.  But she still blames herself for yet more of the disasters still to befall her, cutting herself savagely to find some mental release. Fortunately there are others able to persuade her against this course, although some readers may question such graphic descriptions of self-harming followed by what the heroine at any rate experiences as total relief. Ultimately after many more adventures she does get to go to the ball. But even this is not what it seems, with Marriott showing real powers of invention in this unusual and very involving story.