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Summary
Summary
Secrets have a way of floating to the surface. . . . Mystery, compelling characters, and an abandoned town beneath a lake make for a must-read adventure.
On the day Cassie was born, they drowned her town. The mayor flipped a lever and everyone cheered as Old Lower Grange was submerged beneath five thousand swimming pools' worth of water. Now, twelve years later, Cassie feels drawn to the manmade lake and the mysteries it hides -- and she's not the only one. Her classmate Liam, who wears oversized swim trunks to cover the scars on his legs, joins Cassie in her daily swims across the off-limits side of the lake. As the summer heats up, the water drops lower and lower, offering them glimpses of the ghostly town and uncovering secrets one prominent town figure seems anxious to keep submerged. But like a swimmer who ventures too far from shore, Cassie realizes she can't turn back. Can she bring their suspicions to light before it's too late -- and does she dare?
Author Notes
Meg McKinlay grew up in Bendigo, Victoria. She has worked a variety of jobs including swim instructor, tour guide, translator and teacher. She is an Honorary Research Associate at the University of Western Australia, where she has taught Australian Literature, Japanese, and Creative Writing. Meg divides her time between teaching and writing. Her books include Duck for a Day, The Truth About Penguins, Annabel, again, Surface Tension, which won the Best Young Fiction category of the 2012 Davitt Awards. Her book A Single Stone won a Queensland Literary Award 2015 in the Children's category. It also won the 2015 Aurealis Awards Best Children's Fiction. In 2016, it won the 2016 Prime Minister's Literary Award for Young Adult Fiction.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-7-Arriving eight weeks premature with underdeveloped lungs, Cassie was the first baby born in the town of New Lower Grange. Her birth caused her family to miss out on the "drowning" of the former town of Old Lower Grange. Twelve years later, Cassie, who swims laps in the town's pool to continue strengthening her lungs, befriends a schoolmate named Liam, also a swimmer. After becoming increasingly curious about the former town that remains under 200 feet of water, Cassie begins swimming in the "lake" under which Old Lower Grange is hidden. Liam, who discovers that she is swimming in the forbidden part, tags along to discover the secrets hiding under the water. McKinlay's mystery (Candlewick, 2013) will hold the attention of listeners. Tara Sands's expressive reading brings Cassie to life. A fine purchase for school and public libraries, especially for reluctant readers.-Beth H. Green, Wappingers Junior High School, Wappingers Falls, NY (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
A poetic sensibility shines through this coming-of-age mystery from McKinlay (Duck for a Day), first published in Australia. Twelve-year-old Cassie feels like a fifth wheel in her family, having been born eight years after her older siblings. Cassie was also the first baby born in the Australian town of New Lower Grange, which was established after the intentional flooding of the previous town to accommodate a dam. Cassie swims six laps every day at the local pool to keep her lungs strong (she was born eight weeks early), but she feels the pull of the forbidden lake above Old Lower Grange. There, she is joined by Liam, a classmate whose life was altered in a tragic accident, and together they search for the truth about the town's past as its centenary celebration approaches. The weight of personal history hangs over McKinlay's story, and she strongly evokes the claustrophobia of a small town where well-meaning people all know each other's business. There's also a very real sense of excitement and danger as Cassie tries to unearth the lake's secrets, making her triumph all the sweeter. Ages 9-12. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Twelve-year-old Cassie, born the day Old Lower Grange, Australia, was submerged to form a reservoir, feels as if she's the only person who still cares about the old town. Accompanied by her classmate Liam, Cassie swims in it and starts to see glimpses of the underwater town--and its secrets. Realized characters and a well-crafted setting buoy a somewhat languid mystery plot. (c) Copyright 2013. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A 12-year-old girl discovers a town secret hidden under thousands of gallons of water in this earnest, thematically rich exploration of the relationship between history and truth. Cassie Romano was the first baby to be born in the town of New Lower Grange, which replaced Old Lower Grange when Mayor Finkle "flipped the lever" turning the old town into an artificial lake and dam site. Since she was little, Cassie has been fascinated by the drowned town, which, together with New Lower Grange, is about to celebrate its centennial. Cassie's much older sister is making the celebration's centenary book, which Cassie feels whitewashes history, as it only shows the positive side of the changeover. Narrated in the first person by its likable protagonist, this quirky but thoughtful not-quite-mystery teams Cassie with Liam, a boy with an unfortunate personal history of his own. Together, the two kids swim on the side of the lake that is closed to the public, where dropping water levels reveal hazy but tantalizing impressions of Old Lower Grange. Although the author does a masterful job of making sure all the pieces fit at the end, the central mystery is hard to buy. This is mitigated by a reasonably suspenseful climax, an earned family solidarity message and the lesson: that to find the truth, one must delve below the surface. A quietly intriguing meditation on history and truth. (Fiction. 9-12)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
On the day Cassie was born, her town's mayor flipped a switch, and Old Lower Grange was submerged under two hundred feet of water. Now 12 years old, Cassie is drawn to the man-made lake. Undeterred by no-entry signs, Cassie starts swimming in it with her friend Liam, who was physically scarred, just as his father was mentally and emotionally scarred, by the car accident that killed his twin brother 12 years earlier. As they dive deeper and deeper through the slowly receding waters, they begin to retrieve clues to a crime covered up years before. Written in short sentences and simple vocabulary, Cassie's first-person narrative is accessible, but she and Liam sometimes seem older than their years. One theme in the novel, becoming more explicit near the end, is that history shifts according to who records it and what they choose to leave out and put in. Though initially the characters feel a bit distant, the writing and the story in this Australian novel become increasingly compelling.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2010 Booklist
