When Ellie is out collecting ingredients for her medicine a mysterious dog leads her to a hut the top of the mountain, where she discovers a sick, old woman called Cate. Ellie determines to do anything she can to wake her father, from pouring ice cold water on him, putting a snake in his bedroom to make her sister scream, and making her own medicine. While Ellie’s mother and sister use lullabies to soothe him, Ellie sees that this is doing nothing to help him get better. When Ellie’s father slips in to a coma after an accident on the farm their lives are changed forever. They survive by growing food and trading what they can. Her father was a tailor and her mother was a teacher but business for them both had dried up, so the family must move from the city to the wilds of Echo Mountain. It is 1934 and Ellie’s family have been hit hard by the stock market crash. Lauren introduces us to Ellie and her family, making a home on Echo Mountain. There is no technology so distractions are few and it’s quiet, but the doctor is far away and you must trade for food or grow it yourself. The cover alone is one of the best covers of 2020 and would draw any reader in! In Echo Mountain, Lauren Wolk transports readers back to a time that is both simpler and harder. When I heard Lauren had a new book coming out I was very eager to get my hands on it and see where she would take me next. Lauren Wolk’s previous book, Beyond the Bright Sea, is one of my absolute favourite books.

Lauren wolk books