I get nostalgic and re-read books I liked when I was younger too often…
“Ever since Aurelie Bonhoffen was a child, she has juggled and played the dead girl on the ghost train at Bonhoffen’s Seaside Pier. On her twelfth birthday, she stumbles on her family’s remarkable secret. It’s hard to accept at first, but when her new friend at school reveals a dangerous plot agains the pier, the secret helps Aurelie confront the greatest threat her family has ever faced.” – Blurb (how do I reference this??? It’s a blurb so that’s what I’m going to call it…) of Deborah Abela’s ‘The Remarkable Secret of Aurelie Bonhoffen’
- Wow, I forgot how much I loved the characters! They’re so engaging and awesome! The grandma is a treasure. Actually, all the Bonhoffen characters are treasures…
- The whole ghost part of the story is actually a pretty cool concept (though I just like ghost stories so I’m biased)
- Aurelie is very relatable. Most of the characters are very relatable… I suppose that’s what makes them so easy to empathise with and why you get so emotionally invested in them!
- I’m loving the pier setting. Abela has definitely created an immersive world. It’s easy to envision all the settings in the book and although the descriptions do have a bit of an almost ‘fantasical’ approach feel to them, they still are fairly realistic (though I think that magic realism is too strong a word for it). And I think that this approach to the descriptions of settings suits Aurelie very well (she is the narrator after all!)
- The conflict is a pretty typical one, but it serves its purpose
- I think that Abela has written a story that is very well suited for its target readers
- Aurelie’s uncles are the best! Rolo and Rindolf are incredible! They deserve so much praise!
- And okay, so we were definitely told us the secret too early on in the book. But younger Chloe and present Chloe still just like reading about the characters and their interactions with everyone too much too care all that much
- This book has some great lessons in it! I’m getting a strong message of ‘acceptance’ from this story so it’s a ‘yes’ from me!
- I love the Bonhoffen family business and their pier. All the Bonhoffen characters are so talented and although Aurelie grew up in a pretty quirky environment and the less accepting characters are concerned about how this may affect her, the Bonhoffen pier is definitely a great environment to be raised in. Aurelie’s home is filled with many incredible and supportive people! Plus I melt when it comes to families that society likes to deem as ‘strange’ because they don’t necessarily follow every societal expectation (or even pretend to), but are the most loving and caring family one could ever wish for
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