DRAGON SUMMER

That there is more than one way to be haunted is a potentially powerful theme and one could wish that the author had dared more here. This book has the elements of good storytelling but intensity and development are lacking. There is English Kate, who returns to buy the stone cottage of a summer in her youth --gripped by the memory of a time and a place. There follows the recall of that summer's experiences with the smiling ghost of the owner. There is the stone shaped like a dragon that broods over the area like a reminder of pre-history. There are Kate's friends and relatives, each driven by a duty or a memory from which they are eventually set free during that summer. Nevertheless, the reader must force the connection. It is too crowded to allow much but the very start of character identification. It is a girl's book with the hint of a love story -- and even with what has gone before, one that they may very well enjoy. However, aiming at this audience should not mean the weakening of a good storyline or that the implications of a theme should be so superficially treated.