Published in 2008, The Hunt for the Seventh is a supernatural mystery for young adults by British author Christine Morton-Shaw. Thirteen-year-old Jim Brown must follow clues left by the ghosts of six dead children to “find the seventh” before an ancient prophecy destroys the local village. Morton-Shaw incorporates themes of courage and the importance of family into this suspenseful novel. When Jim’s father takes a job as head gardener at the historic Minerva Hall in the English village of Sevenstone, it is a fresh start for the whole family, which is still recovering from the death of Jim’s mother. Jim’s father has been in a deep depression, and the new position will help get him back on his feet. Together, Jim, his younger sister, Sal, and their father move into a suite of worn, out-of-the-way rooms at the top of the mansion. Jim notices that one of the doors in their living quarters is mysteriously locked. Jim, the first-person narrator of the story, shares that he is already fearful of their new home: he feels watched and hears voices. Jim knows he can’t tell his father about his worries or it might make him sick again. Jim feels that he is on his own. The owner of the estate, Lord Louis Minerva III, is wheelchair-bound and dislikes both children and people who ask questions. He makes it clear to Jim and Sal that they must respect his privacy and stay out of areas that are off-limits. Lord Minerva shows the Brown family his extensive security system: the rooms and grounds of the estate are covered with video cameras, and Lord Minerva watches the monitors constantly. He warns that he has “eyes everywhere.” With his dark, cold eyes, Lord Minerva reminds Jim of a lizard. Jim and Sal explore the grounds of the huge estate. In addition to statues hidden all around the property, the grounds feature a family chapel, and old bear pit, an icehouse, and a tall hedge maze. One evening, Jim meets a boy in jeans and a red fleece in the maze. A math genius, the boy speaks cryptically to Jim, so Jim calls him Einstein. Einstein tells Jim how to escape the maze and then disappears. Before returning to the mansion, Jim sees the ghost of a young girl in the maze. Mrs. Benson, the cook, shares that the Minerva family has always been unlucky, and six children are buried on the grounds in the off-limits family graveyard. She also tells Jim and Sal about Lord Minerva’s son, Henry, who is autistic and away at a special boarding school. Jim ducks out of a public tour of the mansion one day and finds the old schoolroom. There he sees a creepy drawing of an old woman with the letters BM, which Jim later learns stands for Blind Meg, a long-dead village cunning woman. Jim hears chalk squeaking on the old chalkboard behind him, and when he turns around, finds a list of six names and instructions to “follow the statutes.” Jim finds the forbidden family chapel and sees the gravestones of the six children who died at Minerva Hall. He also discovers a statue of Harriet and realizes she is the girl he saw in the maze. Jim has a vision of how she died: crushed by a falling weathervane. He tells his father, who says Jim must have dreamed everything. At the bottom of the dumbwaiter shaft to their rooms, Jim sees a grinning old woman with wild white hair. He believes it is Blind Meg. She tells him that the “old one is watching.” Jim realizes he must keep his fears to himself to protect his father. Einstein tells Jim that the children “did not just die” – all had strange accidents. Jim figures out that Einstein is Lord Minerva’s son Henry; he believes Henry is playing truant from school. Together, they visit a church on the grounds and examine an old book for clues. Jim and Sal find the statue of the next child who died, and Jim witnesses his death. An old willow crown is a clue that something dire is going to happen on the approaching summer solstice. Meanwhile, Lord Minerva has captured video of Jim running out of the church. Lord Minerva orders Jim’s father to keep Jim with him at all times, and Sal must stay with Mrs. Benson. Jim’s father is angry that Jim lied to him. Jim, however, continues to sneak around. He finds the statues of the other children, witnessing how they died. He also uncovers clues suggesting that an ancient prophecy made by Blind Meg is coming true. A seventh child must die on the solstice to prevent the village from being destroyed. Jim believes Einstein is the next victim. Jim’s father is angry with him for his repeated lies and disobedience. Sal is angry with Jim for upsetting their father. Also furious with him, Lord Minerva fires Jim’s father. Desperately, Jim tries to show his family that Einstein is really Henry and is standing right there in his room, but Jim is the only one who can see him. Jim suddenly understands that Einstein is dead. A huge storm brings flooding to the hall and the village. Blind Meg magically leads Jim to the lakebed, where he finds the body of Henry, wrapped in chains and sunken. The next day, the now-drained lake reveals an old stone circle and the body. A key in Henry’s boot opens the locked door in the family’s rooms and together with the police, they find a videotape. The video shows Lord Minerva and his butler killing Henry and dumping him in the lake. The two are arrested for murder. Minerva Hall is taken over by an English preservation society and Jim’s father stays on as head gardener. The ghosts of the children are finally at peace, and together, Jim and his family settle happily into their new life.

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Christine Morton-Shaw

Middle grade

Novel

Fiction

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