AWFUL AUNTIE

Author: David Walliams Illustrator: Tony Ross Rating: 10/10 Age: 8+ Genre: Fiction, Humour Pages: 416 Published in: Sept 2014 Main Characters: Stella Saxby, Soot, Alberta

Synopsis: Stella is a young 12 year old girl who lives in a huge mansion called Saxby hall. One night, Stella found herself in her bedroom wrapped in ropes! “Ma… Pa? Where are you?” she called, feeling terrified. Suddenly, she heard a loud noise: she could just about make out a dark silhouette of her aunt, called Alberta.  There had been a great mystery about Alberta. She was the eldest of 3 children: herself and her twin brothers Herbert and Chester (Chester is known as Stella’s father in this story). When Alberta was just 12 years old, her baby brother Herbert mysteriously disappeared! Nobody knew why this event had occurred and no one had found a trace of him… After Herbert had vanished, as the oldest male child, Stella’s father agreed to take after the great Saxby Hall after his parents. Alberta was deeply disturbed by this. She was the oldest! After Stella had finally woken up after her she had been knocked out, her aunt explained to her that her parents had been involved in a terrible accident: and Alberta had only been able to save Stella. Her parents had unfortunately died and Alberta agreed to take upon Stella herself. Stella was quite cautious about her aunt. Alberta told her that she must lock her up in the dark, dismal cellar. After this, Stella knew that something suspicious was going on, but decided to listen to her aunt’s decisions. Whilst in the cellar, she meets a ghost named Soot. Together, they unravel Alberta’s cruel plans, and unravel the truth about the murder of her parents and why she was so desperate in claiming Saxby Hall to herself… What happened to Stella’s parents? What was the truth about Herbert’s disappearance? Who is Soot and why is he a ghost? Dive into this wonderful book to hatch the secret!

Why I like this book:  I love this book because it is very intriguing and David Walliams makes the reader very eager to read on. This book is full of mysteries, which leaves the reader to predict about what might happen next. At the end of the book, all the answers to the mysteries slowly unfold one by one, which makes this book so fascinating!