ROSIE NO-NAME AND THE FOREST OF FORGETTING

This time-travel tale begins with a prologue set in 1916 when a witch pulls a young girl under the waters of a dark pool. When present-day Rosie falls from a crumbling staircase and finds herself face to face with a smiling girl in a long white dress, readers understand that Rosie has been transported back to 1916. The girl runs off with Rosie's diary, teasing her to follow, and follow her she must for Rosie remembers nothing of herself but her name. Her pursuit of the girl takes her into a dark forest fraught with dangers, and a complicated plot ensues involving the witch, an evil raven, and a black carriage of death. The well-realized setting and Rosie's fantastic predicament never come together convincingly; readers won't believe that a few hours after the raven dive-bombs Rosie's horse, she fails to recognize the bird on the witch's shoulder or to comprehend the danger of her situation. Promising a lot, this still fails to satisfy. (Fiction. 8-12)