Ash Harrier: The Deadly Daylight (Pantera Press 2022)
Alice England lives with her father, who runs a funeral home. Alice often helps him prepare the bodies for the funerals. She does not find this strange or scary, as it is a tribute to the deceased’s life and part of the final farewell. Death is natural for Alice not only because she lived her whole life among funerals, but also because her own twin was a stillborn. However, one of the deaths has a greater impact on her because she knew the deceased and suspects that the circumstances of his death are not as clear as the police think. Alice has a lot in common with Violet, who is allergic to sunlight: they both are ‘creatures of the night’, pushed to the edge by their classmates, now they find each other and investigate the mystery together.
The story may seem scary and sad, but it shows how diverse we can be and that there is not just one way to live happily. The children struggle with the prejudices against them and their own inhibitions to finally find friends and show the truth. What I also liked about the book was that the solution was also real, but no one had thought of this possibility before.
Ash Harrier lives in Western Australia, where she is an ambassador for a charity that helps disadvantaged children create their own home library. She is obsessed with puzzles, scientific facts, birds and the smell of tea, her favorite pastimes are reading, daydreaming and spending time in the garden. The idea for her first novel came to her when she was waiting for her daughter in front of school and saw a red-haired girl walking alone. She became Alice. Three volumes of the series have already been published in Australia and the first book was published in Europe this year.
