I read this in Whitby, where I have been for a few days. I really enjoyed the first book in the trilogy,The Whitby Witches , and while there were bits of this book I liked, I didn't enjoy everything about it.Ben and Jennet are still living with Miss Boston, their elderly foster-mother in Whitby. Following the events of the previous book, a mysterious visitor, Nathaniel Crozier, arrives in Whitby. He is quite scruffy looking, but has magnetic brown eyes and a lot of charm, and manages to bend the residents of Whitby, including Jennet, to his will. He is in fact the husband of Rowena Cooper, the villain of the previous book, and has come not only to be revenged on the people who defeated her, but also to unleash a terrible power that has been dormant for centuries.In the meantime, Miss Boston has been called away to visit an old friend who is very ill in London. The children have been left in charge of the dithery and rather ineffectual Miss Werther, Whitby's post mistress. However, when she arrives, there is something very odd going on at her friend's house.Ben's friend, Nelda the Aufwader, has her own problems. Since the curse of the Aufwaders wasn't fully broken in the previous book, she must appease Esau, one of the elders of the tribe, through marriage.For me, the three strands of the book never really came together. I wanted to know more about all of them, and the Aufwader aspect of the story didn't tie together the way the other two did. Also, I found the way that Jennet was diminished in this book rather disappointing. I'd have liked her to have been far more instrumental in the plot of this book.However, the sense of place and menace of Whitby (it takes place this time of year, when Whitby is at its most spooky) is really well evoked. It is an exciting read, and I'm sure that children of 9+ would enjoy it.
