Undine lives in a quirky house in Tasmania with her mother and young brother. Her best friend Trout and her quirky young step-aunt, Mim, live nearby, and life is pretty good, even if Trout does seem to be developing a crush on Undine when she’d really rather just be friends.
Then one Tuesday, the feeling comes. It’s a complicated, mixed-up, scary feeling that she last had the day her stepfather died in an accident, but this time it goes beyond just a feeling. First, there’s the voice that no one else can hear, the voice that tells her “it’s time to come home”, and then strange dreams of oceans and storms, and things almost-seen in mirrors. Then one hot day, Undine imagines a cooling thunderstorm, and actually creates one, a violent freak storm that leaves the local weather office very puzzled. After that, Undine feels she must find out who and what she is, but she doesn’t realize that she may have to choose between her very real powers and the people she loves.
I really enjoyed this book. It does a fine job of combining the real-life issues of being a teenager with the special problems of suddenly developing magic powers. Unlike characters in many other fantasy novels, Undine still has to live a normal life, so you get a character who has both fantastic and ordinary problems. She has to figure out what to do about the magic, and also how to deal with normal problems with parents, boys, and school work. It’s well written, too, and although it starts at a somewhat relaxed pace, I found it so gripping towards the end that I stayed up late to finish it.
