The Summer King

Brenda Baltensperger is a playwright, a director of children’s
theatre, an editor of children’s fiction, and the author of Fractured
Fairy-tales.

Seventeen-year-old Laurel Blackburn travels from Canada to Ireland for a
summer visit with her grandparents. She is also determined to solve the
mystery of her dead twin’s diary. In order to do this, Laurel crosses
over to Achill Island, a place connected to the land of Faerie, regarded
by the Irish as the land of afterlife. At her grandparents’ summer
cottage, she meets and falls in love with Ian, who is given to
unpredictable mood swings. It isn’t until much later that she realizes
that he is two people: the gentle, caring Ian and the cruel, thoughtless
Summer King.

In order to see her sister for the last time, Laurel consents to
undertake a mission her twin had written about in her diary. Her
adventures among the Faeries bring her into contact with Grace
O’Malley, a pirate queen, and a golden eagle named Laheen who assists
her. Laurel needs all her courage to defeat the raven creatures (known
as “gruagachs”) who are trying to thwart her mission to free the
Summer King and prevent the bridge between mortals and fairies from
being destroyed forever.

Deeply rooted in ancient Irish folklore, The Summer King is an exciting
and magical tale of young love and struggle against adversity.
Recommended.