The Painting

By Charis Cotter

Book Overview

A haunting, beautiful middle-grade novel about fractured relationships, loss, ghosts, friendship and art. Annie and her mother don't see eye to eye. When Annie finds a painting of a lonely lighthouse in their home, she is immediately drawn to it--and her mother wishes it would stay banished in the attic. To her, art has no interest, but Annie loves drawing and painting. When Annie's mother slips into a coma following a car accident, strange things begin to happen to Annie. She finds herself falling into the painting and meeting Claire, a girl her own age living at the lighthouse. Claire's mother Maisie is the artist behind the painting, and like Annie, Claire's relationship with her mother is fraught. Annie thinks she can help them find their way back to each other, and in so doing, help mend her relationship with her own mother. But who IS Claire? Why can Annie travel through the painting? And can Annie help her mother wake up from her coma? The Painting is a touching, evocative story with a hint of mystery and suspense to keep readers hooked.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 110191887X
• ISBN13: 9781101918876
• Release Date: September 2017
• Publisher: Tundra Books (NY)
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.8" x 8.1"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

A good fantasy with a mystery to solve

In The Painting, we get two points of view. First we meet Claire, a girl longing for her lost little sister, Annie. The second is from a girl named Annie who looks as Claire's sister might have if she'd lived longer. This second Annie is an only child. They meet because of a painting Annie found in her attic and put in her room -- a painting of the very lighthouse where Claire lives with her artist mother. Claire's little sister was a talented artist. This older Annie is, too. I was caught up in the web of family secrets and sorrows. So much suffering might have been avoided through honest communication. Both girls are very different from their mothers who love, but don't understand them. Claire can't wait to get away from her mother. Annie's mother is in a coma and Annie's desperate for her to awaken. We get revelations about the big secret tearing Claire and her mother apart throughout the book. The more Annie learns, the more it seems likely that helping Claire will help her own tragedy. Time seems to be running out though, and meeting Claire is getting harder. Is there anyone who can help them? I liked all of the characters and the plot. I would definitely recommend this book to children who enjoy fantasies -- and to adults who have the good sense to still enjoy children's literature.