SuitabookThe Grimmelings
Rachael King
- Reading
- Read together if the suspense feels intense, pausing to separate what characters know from what they suspect. Notice the opening Scottish words and return to them as the mystery and family history develop.
- Themes
- Family, absence and resilience: Ella lives with her mother, sister and grandmother while the family carries the absence of men who have gone missing and faces local suspicion. The family is presented as loving, complex and resilient, while grief and social judgement create pressure.
- Folklore, language and place: The novel places Scottish folklore and vocabulary within a contemporary New Zealand setting, using several linguistic traditions to deepen its sense of place. The book presents this mainly as information or explanation.
- Fear, courage and responsibility: A boy disappears after Ella tells him he is cursed; an unfamiliar black horse appears, and the story develops through unease, questions and possible supernatural danger. The book leaves its stance open to more than one reading.
- Worth knowing
- The atmosphere is explicitly eerie and creepy, with a missing boy, a threatening-looking horse, unsettling images, family disappearance and a terminally ill grandmother. These elements may merit a check-in for sensitive readers.