In the Stone Circle
Ages 9 and up; Scholastic; 1998
A Junior Literary Guide Selection

The Story: When fourteen-year-old Cristyn Stone's father announces that they'll be spending the summer in Wales while he researches a book, Cristyn balks. Their life in small-town Ohio, where Mr. Stone is a professor of medieval studies, is a little boring - but at least it's familiar. Why spend the summer in an even more remote place - without TV or the mall or her best friend, Charlotte?

From the moment they arrive at the sixteenth-century stone house in Dolwyddelan, Wales, which they'll be sharing with another professor and her two children, Cristyn senses she is there for a reason.

First she has a strange dream about a man she can't identify. Then a beloved photo of their late mother disappears from her room. And when she discovers a secreat staircase leading from the room she shares with Miranda, she knows it's only a matter of time until the house reveals its past.

Part ghost story, part historical novel, In the Stone Circle is a riveting novel by a first-time author.

Inspiration: Elizabeth Cody Kimmel has loved ghost stories since she was a girl, and for many years she has been captivated by the people and events of medieval Wales. After a recent trip to Wales, including a visit to Gwynedd's Dolwyddelan Castle, she felt compelled to write this novel in order to bring the people and times closer to contemporary readers.

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