This was an ok book, but I don't think it will fit within my library community. They just won't identify with the characters.

An invasive narrator is a tricky thing to pull off. They can almost become a character, a part of the book's charm. The narrator in this book serves both to explain the motivation behind a character's actions and to soften what might otherwise be an overly intense or difficult to understand situation. It's a delicate balance and Farrant pulls it off well. The plot would work fine without that narrator. That voice adds elements we might not grasp otherwise and serves as a transition through otherwise quiet moments, walking us through the emotions that have built up. The plot is a bit on the odd side but will serve as a decent read for those who enjoy books off the beaten path.

Alice has been displaced from the family home she grew up in and is left at a British boarding school. Her father is unreliable and sends her a mysterious package that leads Alice and her new friends on an adventure. This so far-fetched but a fun read. As you know... this book had me at British boarding school. But, beyond that I enjoyed adventure with the quirky characters.
The cover detracts from the essence of the book.

Alice lives in the English countryside in Cherry Grange, a house that has been in the family for a hundred years. After her mother's death, he father and aunt are unable to afford the house, so it is sold. The adults move to London, but Alice is sent to Stormy Loch, a Scottish boarding school, so she can stop obsessing about the past. This is fairly successful; she makes friends with Jesse (although they have a misunderstanding) and Fergus, and settles in fairly well, occasionally getting herself into scrapes. When she gets a mysterious message from her father Barney, she thinks she is supposed to meet him on the island of Nish at a castle there. She takes off with Jesse and Fergus, and has a fair amount of adventures on the way, some involving international jewel thieves, but things are a bit fraught when Fergus gets food poisoning. She comes to some realizations about her father, but realizes that good friends can make up for family.

Strengths: I'm glad to see that British children are still free to have adventures, and didn't need to get permission from the head master and be accompanied by a junior member of staff to run off across the countryside. The way that Jesse and Alice got off on the wrong foot was realistic. In my opinion, you can't really go wrong with setting a story in a boarding school in Scotland.
Weaknesses: Cherry Grange was delightful, and I would have liked to spend much more time there.
What I really think: Debating. The cover doesn't seem to go with the story; the castle needs to be in there somewhere. A good story, but perhaps a bit too British.