Review: The Wishing Game

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lucy Hart had a very unhappy childhood and fell into a relationship with her college professor which also ended under a cloud. Now, saddled with debt, she is working as a teaching assistant in California. She cares deeply for one of her charges, a little seven year old boy called Christopher who has also had a traumatic childhood, and she is desperate to foster him but with poor housing, no car, and huge debts the odds are stacked against her.

Jack Masterson was a children's author who wrote a best-selling series of novels called Clock Island, a real island in Maine. But suddenly after writing over forty books he stopped and hasn't written anything for years. His books were a lifeline to Lucy and she has read them to young Christopher. The books feature children who venture to the island and have to solve a series of riddles and puzzles to get their wishes to come true.

Then one day Jack announces (very Willy Wonka) that he has written a new book, but there is only one copy, to be won by someone from a small group of personally invited guests. Each one of his books sells tens of millions of copies so this prize could make the winner rich beyond their wildest dreams.

Knowing that her only realistic chance of being able to foster Christopher is to win the prize (and also being beyond excited that there is a new book to read), Lucy is ecstatic when she receives an invitation, but the game will test her to the limit.

I loved this, miles too short, should have been at least 1,000 pages longer, wonderful, whimsical, charming, and sad. Currently only 99p on Amazon UK.

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