Daisy's mother suffered trauma when she was young and as she got older, she no longer left her home except to get food and supplies. Daisy, her 11 year old daughter knows there is an outside world, but she has never left Brightwood Hall. When Daisy's mom leaves one day to get supplies and doesn't return, Daisy is left to fend for herself. Shortly after this, a stranger shows up on the property and begins measuring, chopping down bushes and killing the wildlife. Who is this stranger and what does he want? Where is Daisy's mother?

I found this an interesting story. Daisy and her mom live a very strange life. Her mother hoards supplies and other items, to the point of filling up the rooms in the manor house with storage shelves. There were a couple of points in the story where Daisy describes crawling through the boxes and piles of stuff that had me cringing. The house was huge, so just imagine what was in that home. I really liked Daisy. She is fun and has quite the imagination. She holds conversations with the animals, including a rat named Tar, the artwork, statues and even the topiary (she is best friends with a horse named True, that is a bush). All of these "friends" help her to figure out what to do when this stranger shows up at Brightwood. This was a well written middle grades mystery/fantasy. There is some action as Daisy enacts her plans, and some humour as well. Overall this was a fun action adventure story, but there was one thing that bothered me. At a couple of points the author talks about "The Crazy". It shows up every now and then in their family. It causes violence in various ways, often involving killing animals or even people. I'm not sure if that is necessary in a children's book. It wasn't a main part of the story, but I still didn't think it needed to be presented in the way it was. I did like that the author deals with the emotional issues surrounding the fear of losing things and hoarding due to trauma. Besides that one niggle, I enjoyed this story and recommend it to middle grade students who like stories with action, adventure and imagination.

Brightwood is such an odd little book. Daisy knows that there’s a world outside of Brightwood Hall — but she’s never been there. Her world consists of the sprawling house, filled with her mother’s collections, and the picturesque grounds, and because Daisy is a bright, curious kid, she fills her world with imaginary friends and understands that her mom isn’t totally OK. One day, Daisy’s mom goes out for a supply run and doesn’t come back. Daisy has no idea how to find out what’s happened to her mom, but she does know she doesn’t want the shady stranger who’s suddenly appeared on the grounds getting into her house.

I’m going to say, the repeated use of the phrase “the crazy” to describe Daisy’s mom’s mental illness made me uncomfortable, but I’m willing to give the benefit of the doubt and believe that this is Daisy’s understanding of how her mom sees and talks about herself and not an indictment of mental illness. I’m mentioning it, though, because it comes up a lot. Despite the weirdness of her life, Daisy is a fun person to hang out with — her big imagination fills the equally big house, and she is both smart and brave enough to deal with a pretty terrifying situation. I liked this book a lot — I’m just not totally sure who it’s for. Reading level, it’s middle grades (which matches up with its 11-year-old protagonist), but its whimsical Gothic feel definitely isn’t for everyone. Definitely give it a try if it sounds like your thing, but feel free to DNF if it turns out it’s not.

Unfortuantly, I found this book too predictable which is too bad since the writing flowed well and the main character was courageous.

Thank you for the chance to review this book, however, unfortunately, I was unable to read and review this title before it was archived.

Requested, but I was not able to review this in a timely manner. I do not foresee having time to review it in the future. My apologies.

I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

"Brightwood" has been chosen as the Marvelous Daretopian Novel of the Month" by The Marvelous Site for January 2017. The review is a reviewaka, based on an ancient Japanese poetry form.

Brightwood (Juvenile Fiction) /
by Tania Unsworth /
c2016 //

secluded mansion /
she’s all alone to face a /
sinister stranger //

middle-grade read with intrigue /
& a good dose of scary //

MM