UNINTERLINGUA 2015

U N I N T E R L I N G U A 99 sed since they last saw each other as teens during the unforgettable summer of 1937, and the rest of the book tells their story. Fourteen-year-old Irene Sauvelle, along with her younger brother, Dorian, and their widowed mother, Simone, relocate from Pa- ris to a small, sleepy village on the coast of Normandy called Blue Bay. Simone has been hired as a housekeeper at Cravenmoore, a secluded and mysterious mansion, home of the famous toymaker genius, Lazarus Jann, and his bedridden wife. In exchange for Si- mone’s work, the family is allowed to live at Sea view, a picturesque cottage overlooking the bay near the abandoned lighthouse. Invited to dinner at the mansion their first night, the Sauvelles are charmed by their host and his collection of mechanical toys, creatures, and automatons. However, when the evening has ended and they are ready to leave the mansion, Dorian notices some- thing strange: the figure of Lazarus Jann does not cast a shadow. As the family settles into their new home and Simone familiarizes herself with the duties requested by her employer, Do- rian quickly finds pleasure in cartography and the magic of Jann’s thousands of au- tomatons that wander the grounds and po- pulate his castle. Meanwhile, Irene spends time with Hannah, a girl her age who works for Jann as a cook. Irene soon meets Is- mael, Hannah’s handsome older cousin, a shy and introspective orphan who spends most of his time sailing alone on his boat. A budding romance ensues as Ismael shows Irene around Blue Bay, the lagoon, the ligh- thouse, and the Cave of Bats. Blue Bay is a long way from the poverty-stricken life the Sauvelles lived in Paris after Mr. Sauvelle died, and where they were constantly houn- ded by his many creditors. This peaceful existence is shattered when Hannah is tricked into releasing a tra- Love and horror in the earlier...