Wormwood Mire (Withering-by-Sea #2) by Judith Rossell

After Stella’s harrowing adventures at Withering-by-Sea, her rich aunts banish her to the dilapidated family estate, Wormwood Mire. Stella is joined there by two foreign cousins, Strideforth and Hortense, and a governess. Stella soon realizes she lived at Wormwood as a baby with her mother and twin sister. But something happened there that made Stella lose them both.

The second book to Rossell’s illustrated series starts off as a quietly foreboding tale as Stella begins her new life at Wormwood Mire. Constantly running through Stella’s head are the outrageously menacing tales from the book The Garden of Lilies: Improving Tales for Young Minds. Her aunts gave Stella this book to frighten Stella into improving her “bad” behavior. Even when Stella is officially out of her aunts’ clutches, their stingy strictness follows Stella wherever she goes and rules whatever he does. But their icy influence starts to thaw inside Stella because of the warm kindness of Strideforth and Hortense. Their familial friendship sparks Stella into thinking for herself again and rekindles the courage, intelligence, and fortitude Stella had during her adventures in Withering-by-Sea. A strong sequel to solidify Stella’s deliciously complex character.

Withering-by-Sea by Judith Rossell

While residing at a health resort with her three stingy aunts, Stella Montgomery witnesses the murder of an elderly hotel patron, Mr. Filbert. But before his death, Mr. Filbert entrusts Stella with an ancient bottle to keep away from his murderer—a magician known as The Professor.

Withering-by-Sea is the start of Rossell’s new illustrated middle-grade series. It is a tale full of danger, magic, friendship, death, and mystery. As the story opens, readers are introduced to young Stella Montgomery. Some might say she has a fabulous life traveling all over the world with her three wealthy aunts. But as readers take a closer, they realize Stella is a lost, neglected little girl who is literally searching for her place in the pages of her ruined Atlas. Surprisingly, after Mr. Filbert’s death, Stella’s life comes alive to new worlds, friendships, and adventures. Up to that point, she was just enduring the insults in hopes of receiving stray clues to her parents’ past. Afterwards, her intelligence, courage, and untapped magical abilities aid her to survive the terrors dealt by The Professor. A fun, intriguing read similar to such classics as The Little Princess and James and the Giant Peach.