From Publishers Weekly
This gentle fantasy by the critically acclaimed author of adult novels gets off to a promising and appropriately fanciful start: on Derby Day, Lisa places a large bet (the entire proceeds of her artist father's sold-out show) on a horse running at 50-to-1 odds. Lisa's horse wins, of course, and her family uses their newfound fortune to purchase a dilapidated mansion located in a remote corner of the English countryside. But soon after their arrival, Lisa's family, their dog and their entourage (a few squatters and a toad-loving London traffic warden) realize that Haphazard House is haunted: the housework seems to get done by itself, a mysterious man appears and disappears, and the passage of time is anything but linear. These details are certainly delightfully shivery, but Wesley does not firmly anchor them to a substantial plot. Literal-minded readers, moreover, are likely to be frustrated by the rather fuzzy explanation given for the estate's uneasy position in the temporal world. Though its setting is easily as magical and romantic as the ancient manor in Lucy Boston's Green Knowe books, Wesley's story seems underdone. Occasional coy bits of dialogue ("You know, love, your manic exaggerations are a fearfully bad example to the children. More soup, Lisa?") are at odds with the generally glittering language. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Gr. 5-7. Escorting his 11-year-old daughter to London to view his first art show, an eccentric artist buys a Panama hat to wear as a disguise. However, the hat turns out to be magic, triggering a series of chaotic and unlikely events (the show sells out, and in a vain attempt to escape commercial success, the artist actually increases his family's new fortune when he uses the show's profits to back a long-shot horse that wins the Derby). The artist and his family are drawn to buy and move to Haphazard House, a run-down estate house in the English countryside with a mysterious past. Once there, they discover that, at Haphazard House, time itself runs haphazardly. And they experience a surrealistic lifestyle for which they seem oddly suited. With a spooky girl ghost floating on the cover, this book will attract readers. And while the story poses more questions than it satisfactorily answers, the mysterious aspects of living within a time warp are well-drawn and intriguing. For larger collections that have a substantial demand for time travel titles.
Annie Ayres
