THE GRIMMELINGS

When a New Zealand family is menaced by a creature of Scottish legend, they fight back to protect themselves and their neighbors.

Grimmelings are “the first or last gleams of the day,” and Ella learned about them from Grizzly—her Scottish grandmother, Griselda, who calls herself a “word-hoarder.” Ella lives with her family (who are cued white), including little sister Fiona, their mother, Morag, and Grizzly, whose cancer has returned. Morag runs a horse-trekking business with help from Hana, who’s Māori. Grandad drowned in the nearby lake, and Dad disappeared by the lake as well, six years ago, although his body was never found. When a class bully goes missing after Ella curses him, she feels guilty, although Ella isn’t from a house of witches, contrary to local rumor. But a kelpie has pursued her grandmother from Scotland through a “thin place” in the lake that allows passage between worlds—and it won’t leave their family in peace until they defeat it. Each woman and girl is strong in her own way, and Ella’s bond with her pony, Magpie, proves crucial in the fight, which ends in a climactic scene at the spring fair. A final chapter set at midsummer serves as an epilogue. Ella is a fierce hero, and the kelpie is a ferocious adversary. King effectively weaves together horses, Scottish mythology, and family history, threading the story with themes of conservation, awe of the natural world, and delight in new words.

Prepare to be beglamoured.