Anna Hoghton: The Mask of Aribella (Chicken House 2020)
Aribella is the daughter of a Venetian lacemaker. She likes to get up at dawn and go to the fish market – although she doesn’t have to -, where she helps her friend Theo. It’s only here that she feels she belongs. Her mother was lost ten years ago, but her father can’t free from the grief. She barely remembers her mother, but she misses her very much. One day she discovers a power in herself that she didn’t know about before. Unfortunately, others have seen it too, and they want to imprison her for witchcraft. At the last moment, she is saved by a mysterious stranger who introduces her to the world of the Cannovacci, people with extraordinary powers. Aribella can finally belong to somewhere, but this new world is overshadowed by an old secret and the whole of Venice is in danger.
As in Anna Hoghton’s other book, grief and its processing play a prominent role here. The main message of this story, however, is to accept ourselves as we are, because our uniqueness can also be our greatest virtue. The beautiful Venice not only provides the background for Aribella’s story, but also appears almost as a character. I also really liked the fact that in addition to the many exceptional abilities, reading was of the greatest importance, since we can learn about the world through the stories we read.
Anna Hoghton is a writer, poet and copywriter, but she also wrote and directed the short film about climate change titled Never Land. The Mask of Aribella is her first children’s novel and has won several children’s book awards. Orla and the Wild Hunt is her second novel which you can already read about on BogiWrites.
