The shadow of august door Sue Welford

Theme:

The story handels about a girl named Mattie. After the death of her mother, everything she knew about her seems to bee not so clear anymore. It looks like her mother had a lot of secrets for her. After she begins to search for what realy happend, she finds out the shockng trough. She is a stolen baby.

Summary:

After Mattie’s mother dies at cancer, Mattie starts to discover a lot of things about her mother, she did’nt know. She finds out, that she has became a house in Porthland, whitch belung to her parents. Mattie and her boyfriend, Bram, go to vistit the hirers of the house. The people now living in the hous, where still having a box of letters from Mattie’s grandparents. Wenn Mattie stated to reed the letters, one strange letter appears. On the letter was standing the date of her birth. In the letter stood, that Mattie’s mother ran away with a guy she met. So, if Mattie’s mother just met this guy, she could’nt be pragnant. It’s not possible to hide a nine month pragnancy. When Mattie went to the doktor for information, she find out that here mother realy was’nt pragnant, because on that day she was having her periods. After further searching, she found out, that her Birthcertificate has disapeard to. Mattie went back to Porthland to find out the trouth, but she fales. Wenn Bram folowed Mattie to Porthland, he has shocking news: Sixteen years ago, that’s how old Mattie is, a baby whit the same characterizes than Mattie was stolen by a family. – The family of the stolen does still mourn every august about Sarah, that is Mattie real name. This is like a shadow over the month August, that’s why the book is caled the shadow of august. Her real mother thinks she can see Mattie sometimes. And Mattie hes this views to, whole the time she sees two people who are standing in front of here, and do this Peek-a-poo thing, what you normaly do to baby’s. – First Mattie could’nt believe that her “mother” would do somting like that, but Bram does think it could be trough. Wenn Mattie goes to the lockal newspaper of Porthland, she finds a foto of the people she sees al the time in her visions by the file of the missing baby. She dicides to visite the people on the foto. At home she finds a bracelet whit something writen on it, when she looks closer it say’s Sarah, now Mattie knows, that she is driving to her real parents, and the strange thing is, she feels like she is driving home.

Person discribing:

Mattie: Mattie is the maain character of the storry. She is a selfrespecting girl, who knows what she wants. She has those visions of people who are talking at her. After the Death of her mother, she wants to find out who these people are, and were the come from, because she feels kind of familiar with them.

Bram: Bram is Mattie’s boyfriend. He helps her to fiend out who the people are that Mattie sees. Bram is actualy the one who come’s with the missing clou. Bram is a big mental support for Mattie to.

Mattie “Mother”: She die’s at the beginning of the book. But the whole book almost handles about here. She had a lot of secrets for her dougther. And it seems that she was’nt the nicest girl when she was young.

Mattie’s Grandmother: She left the letters and the house behind for Mattie.

Kelly: She is Mattie’s natural sister. She was born after Mattie hes been stolen.

Mary: Mary is Mattie’s real mother. She still believes that Mattie is alive. She has, just like Mattie, these visions about here dougther. She is still searching for here dougther, but that’a only mentaly, not piscaly.

What if…:

What if Mattie didn\'t became the letters of her grandma. I think she wouldn\'t give op the searching to the people she see’s, but it would lead to a whole difrend story. She perhaps thinks that she is driving creazy, and searches for help by a therapist. He would tell here that she has to find out wo these people are. Than it so happened that she sees exactly the people of her visions on the television in a program like “Vermist” or “Spoorloos”. Her real parants dicided to go to this program to find they’re dougther. Mattie first is not sure if she sould call, but then Bram say’s she sould. After Mattie’s call, she finds the bracelet with the name Sarah on it. Then she finds a old foto she never saw before. It was a foto of her as a baby, whit the bracelet on her arm. Now she knows she is Sarah. When she drives to her real parents, she becomes a fealing of insurance, she does’nt know if she realy is the doougther of this people, and why did here mother never told her about this, and what did exactly happen…

Other Titel:

If I had to give the book a other titel, it probably would be: Stolen Summer
I think this titel fits better, because it handels with both of the Family’s. The Shadow of August only handle about the feelings that Mattie’s real parents have. Tha Mattie was stolen in the summer is a fact. And both Mattie and her real parents are having problems with this. In this titel, even Mattie “mother” is involved, because she was the one who has stolen the baby. And that was not a tragic thing for her, not like a shadow, she wanted the child.

Reading experience:

I enjoyed to read the book, it was a nice story. After the first chapter I had something like, do I have to read this. Bud then, after she became the letter at page 41 and the story that was going a few pages previously, I started to like the story. I realy wanted to find out what happened to her when she was young. The god thing on the book is, that you don’t have al the clou’s at once. Sue Welford does realy keep the tension in the storry. After a clou has been found, you have to wait a few page before they find a other one. I don’t know if there are more books of Sue Welford at school, but if there aren’t, I think I wil get one out of the library.