What a strange, eerie and interesting adventure! In this second volume of a trilogy set in the 1820s, young Felix Brooke had decided in the previous story that, unhappy in England, he would return to Spain and live with his grandfather back in his old home. Unfortunately our story opens with Felix surviving a shipwreck, washed ashore in France, seeing a strange vision, being injured by a blow to the head, and waking up in monastery 3 months later. Thus begins one of the strangest tales from even a master of the unusual and absurd as Joan Aiken is, as Felix embarks on a journey to accompany Juan, whom he has rescued from death, back to his family. They are pursued by the abbot of the monastery, who seems to be possessed by an evil spirit, and when the abbot is killed, the spirit transfers itself into the body of the leader of the bandits who had tried to kill Juan. The entire book is the story of their flight and the development of the prickly friendship between the two, and though I found Juan a tiresome character for most of the book, the ending redeemed it for me quite nicely. Joan Aiken quite matter-of-factly deals with the paranormal aspects as though they were a normal part of the daily life of the time, and does not attempt to explain anything away, leaving the reader to accept the story at face value and simply enjoy it for the rousing young adult adventure it is.

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