A brilliant, engrossing pre-teen fantasy from the author of Winterbringers and The Keeper’s Daughter set in Scotland. Callie Hall has just discovered she's a witch and nothing will ever be the same again. Can Callie control her power and the darkness that threatens to take over her life....and save her friend Josh?
A Piece of Passion from Commissioning Editor for Kelpies, Eleanor Collins: Dark Spell is Gill Arbuthnott at her brilliant, page-turning best. Callie and Josh feel like people you know, even though they are dealing with something extraordinary – something spine-shiveringly chilling. I got thrillingly scared sometimes when reading the manuscript for the book. There’s a moment when Callie is woken from deep sleep by her cat hissing at the dense darkness under her desk… I can’t say more.
15-year-old Callie Hall has just found out she's a witch, and things keep going wrong. Sometimes her mind seems to make things happen, things she can't control. She can set fire to things without a match, and when she's angry people can get hurt. Josh understands she's a bit weird, but its only on a dark and dangerous visit to the tunnels under the ruins of St Andrews' Castle that he realises just how strange she really is. Something comes back with Callie - in Callie, something she can't escape.
Gill Arbuthnott lives in Edinburgh and has been a published author since 2003. She writes fiction and non-fiction and reckons that being a children's author is probably the best job in the world. Her recent books Dark Spell, Beneath and What Makes You You? have been shortlisted for major UK book awards. A former science teacher, she loves mixing scientific fact with wonderful anecdotes of people and places.
GILL ARBUTHNOTT Q&A:
What is the maddest thing you have ever done?
Nothing very mad… I went once to buy a black kitten and came back with a deaf, one-eyed white adult cat. (It wasn’t my fault though: he chose me.) Oh, and there was the time at the fun fair when I went on a roller coaster even though I knew I hated them. It felt like the longest two minutes of my life.
Which of the mad scientists would you have liked to meet and why?
Rita Levi-Montalcini. Not only did she do important work under very difficult conditions, she lived through amazing times. She alsohad great style in the way she dressed and looked, and she was a fabulous cook. What a woman!
Which discovery would you have liked to have made?
I’d love to have been part of the discovery of the structure of DNA (the chemical that controls most of what we are). It’s so beautiful, and it unlocked so many ideas in Biology. AND I would have to go to work with some incredible people. Maybe I’ll tell you about them in another book!
What do you think is the best discovery made by a scientist?
It’s not an important discovery, but it has made a lot of people very happy… The discovery of how to make chocolate so that it starts to melt at the temperature of the human mouth!
