With this one, the thrill and the loveable-ness arrived a little too late for me. I often find that Hardinge's books have some macabre elements, which usually give way fairly swiftly to the thrill of the adventure and the loveable-ness of the characters.

As soon as the truth came out and the Triss-rescue mission started, the book picked up, becoming a familiar fast-paced Hardinge fantasy.

It was about 150 pages before she realised what she was, and all that time was spent in a state of desperate perplexity which was shared by the reader. I think part of the reason I didn't enjoy this book so much is because Hardinge had created the protagonist's confusion and distress so effectively. Believing that she was Triss, she couldn't understand why she was so hungry all the time (later revealed to be a typical trait of changelings), or why she kept finding dead leaves in her hair (also a feature of changelings) or why she had no memories of the fateful night when all this began (the night when she and Triss were swapped). For a significant number of chapters, the changeling was unaware that she was a changeling. It was about a family whose daughter Triss is swapped for a changeling - and it is told from the perspective of the changeling. Agent: Nancy Miles, Miles Stott Literary Agency.Having said all that though, Cuckoo Song was probably my least favourite of all the Hardinge books I've read. In the guise of a gorgeously written and disconcerting fairy tale, Hardinge ( A Face Like Glass) delves deeply into the darker side of family life, particularly sibling rivalry and the devastating effect war can have on those left at home.

Her memories are spotty and inconsistent, store mannequins and dolls turn their heads to follow her movements, and every time she closes her eyes she senses “dreams waiting at the mousehole of her mind’s edge, ready to catch her up in their soft cat-mouth and carry her off somewhere she did not want to go.” Triss feels an overwhelming hunger that cannot be assuaged by human food and suspects she is no longer human. As the story opens, Triss has somehow fallen into a local pond, barely escaping with her life, and she regains consciousness to find that the world has gone strange. In this painful and powerful tale set in post-WWI England, readers meet 11-year-old Triss, the coddled daughter of a respected civil engineer and an overprotective mother, as well as her jealous younger sister, Pen.

Cuckoo song book