The poem from Great Uncle Enoch’s journal seems unbelievable; surely there is nothing literal about the verse.   But didn’t Noah notice some sort of shimmer in the eyes of the floor-to-ceiling portraits in his family’s new home?

The Macgregor family - Mom, Dad, Noah, and his big sister Holli along with their dog, Gilbert, have moved into an ancestral South Carolina mansion willed to them by Great Uncle Enoch when he died - or, rather, disappeared.   The historic home is filled with secret passages, a garden maze, and entire closed-off wings begging to be explored. When Noah acquires three cryptic journals, one written in an unidentified brownish ink, the mysteries of the past begin to unfold.

Noah can’t imagine where his dog, Gilbert, has gone within the sandy, crushed-shell manor’s grounds to have returned covered in a red muddy substance; but while he and Holli chase Gilbert through an unexplored wing of the house in an effort to give him a bath, he seems to disappear.  His wet footprints lead right to the frame of an enormous painting.  While Noah believes his ancestor’s haunting poem to be less-than-factual, he and Holli decide to test the poem’s words, and tumble into an alternate history in which some things seem familiar and others are beyond imagination.

Young readers and old will chase Noah, Holli, and Gilbert not only through the painting, but also through the pages of this fast-paced, enchanting romp.  This book is part gothic novel, part mystery, part fantasy, and entirely delightful.  Gail McAbee’s first foray into the young adult market is a rousing success.