This is an absolutely fascinating book because the story is told out of sequence and you have to really concentrate to gradually piece together the story of Lucy, the girl who came from the sea.
It starts with Alfie and his father fishing for mackerel in the sea off the Scilly Isles in 1915 when Alfie hears a human cry from an uninhabited island. They are quite afraid at first because the island is supposed to be haunted, but when they land on the island Alfie discovers a girl in an old ruined house. She has "a bone-white face", is "hollow- cheeked" and "was shaking uncontrollably" and was wrapped in an old blanket.
Alfie and his dad take the girl home where his mother nurses her, but the only word she can say is Lucy, so the family cannot find out how she came to be alone on the island. As the book continues some of the story is told in Lucy's voice, about her life before she was stranded and some of it is told from the journal of Dr Crow who keeps a meticulous record of all his visits to treat Lucy.
The story is really gripping because some of the islanders think Lucy is a German spy, some think she is a mermaid and you are just desperate to find out where she has come from, why she loves the moon so much and what will happen to her.
I think you have to be quite a confident reader to enjoy this book because you have to piece the story together so I would recommend it for readers over ten years old.
• Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop.
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