Cicada Summer

Kate Constable

may 2009 · Allen & Unwin

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Something flickered at the top of the stairs. Eloise heard a voice call, I'm coming!, and a girl in a pale dress and a big sunhat came running, her fingertips slipping down the curve of the slim iron railing.

Eloise went cold all over. She couldn't move, or breathe; her mouth was dry.

At the bottom of the steps, the girl in the pale dress faltered, then stopped. For a fraction of a second she stood motionless, as if she were listening. Then all at once she turned and stared straight at Eloise.

And suddenly the foyer was empty. The ghostly girl was gone.

When Eloise's get-rich-quick dad moves them back to his home town to turn the derelict family mansion into a convention centre, Eloise feels an immediate bond with the old house. She begins spending all her time there, ignoring her strange grandmother and avoiding the friendly boy next door. Then Eloise meets a 'ghost girl' who may or may not be from the house's past, and events take a strange - and ultimately dangerous - turn. Beautifully written, poignant and gripping, this is a charming and atmospheric story of personal growth, overcoming grief and the true nature of friendship and family.

'A deserted house, a grieving girl; the perfect ingredients to take you on a journey between reality and fantasy. Cicada Summer makes you believe that anything is possible. My skin prickled, my pulse raced and I couldn't put the book down until I'd finished.' - Glenda Millard'

A treasure of a story, a story to slip into your pocket like a feather or a perfectly round stone - for keeps. Reminiscent of the old-fashioned storytelling I loved as a child, like Tom's Midnight Garden, but with a contemporary flavour.' - Penni Russon

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Kate Constable was born in Victoria but spent much of her childhood in Papua New Guinea, without television but within reach of a library where she 'inhaled' stories. She studied Arts/Law at Melbourne University before working part-time for a record company while she began her life as a writer. Her novels, The Singer of All Songs, The Waterless Sea and The Tenth Power form the internationally acclaimed Chanters of Tremaris series. The Taste of Lightning is a stand-alone fantasy novel set in the same world. Always Mackenzie is a teen novel published in the Girlfriend Fiction series. Kate lives in West Preston, Victoria, with her husband and two daughters.