Annie and her mother don’t see eye to eye. Her mother is all about facts and order; Annie loves art and daydreaming. When Annie finds a painting of a lonely lighthouse, she is immediately drawn to it—and her mother wishes it would stay banished in the attic.
Then Annie’s mother slips into a coma following a car accident, and strange things begin to happen. Annie finds herself falling into the painting, where she meets Claire: a girl her own age living at the lighthouse. Claire’s mother, Maisie, is the artist behind the painting, and she and Claire have a difficult relationship. Annie feels a deep, mysterious connection to Claire, but feels powerless to help as Claire and Maisie continue to hurt each other.
Desperately worried about her mother, Annie struggles to understand what is happening. Who IS Claire? Why can Annie travel through the painting? And what has it all to do with her silent mother, lying cold and still in a hospital room?
"A cleverly constructed, compellingly paced mystery that's part time-slip story, part ghost story, part meditation on the power of dreaming. Full of emotional truth and connection." — Kirkus
Awards
Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children’s Literature, 2018 Atlantic Book Award
Hackmatack Children's Choice Award, 2019