Product Description

A haunting and gripping mystery that you won't be able to put down. The doorstep was black, shiny as glass. Through the layer of dead leaves and yuck, some words shone through. Words, carved on the doorstep! Scraping the leaves away, I found some symbols, and in English: WHERE --SILON DWELLS Inside an abandoned cottage on the remote island of Lume, Jess encounters an eerie ghost-like presence. She also finds three locked boxes and, as she earns the right to unlock each, the contents send her mind spinning. Gradually, Jess unravels the mysteries, guided by the mysterious Epsilon. But is he a guide from the bright side or the dark?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #470663 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Review
"A clever conundrum." Kirkus Reviews "A stay--up--all--night page--turner!a highly recommended purchase." VOYA

About the Author
Christine Morton-Shaw lives in Sheffield with her husband and six children. She loves fishing, reading and diaries. Her main ambition is to catch a 20lb-plus carp. If she ever gets rich, she will buy a very big shoe and move her large family into it, as she often feels like the old woman in the nursery rhyme with so many children, she doesn't know what to do. Pub Quizzes help keep her sane, although she seldom wins any of them. Christine has written many picture books for children and THE RIDDLES OF EPSILON is her first novel.

Customer Reviews

A roller coaster ride of mystery - Totaly unputdownable.
I Loved this book and you will too. It's only been out a few weeks and already I've read it three times! That's how much The Riddles of Epsilons mysterious power holds you.

If you only read one book this year, make it Christine Morton-Shaw's FANTASTIC debut novel. This is 'The Da Vinci Code' for kids, only better! I won't bore you with the basic plot becuase you can find that elsewhere, but if you're looking for a chilling, supernatural mystery with plenty of opertunity for YOU to play detective and solve it all before fourteen year-old Jess can, then this is for you. The book takes the form of diary entries, chatroom transcripts and mysterious arcaic documements which come into Jess's hands via the mysterious Epsilon. As you read through this collection of artifacts it is impossible not to become enthrawled by the mysterious past of the Island of Lume as it surrounds you. Ancient Curses, Strange spirits, mysterious symbols and unexplained chanting at night. Christine Morton-shaw has created a microcosmic, enigmatic paranoid society and culture on her fictitios Island that sends a shiver down your spine. Not only this, but the journey of young Jess through the novel and her own personal problems - her parents mysterious reactions to Lume, her expulsion from school, her mother's recent affair - give the novel emotional heft. Every page will have you gripped, through shocking twists and turns to the final, heart stopping conclusion.

'The Riddles of Epsiolon' will appeal to everyone, young and old, fans of Darren Shan AND Jaquline Wilson alike. There's something for everyone in this hugely exciting adventure.

The blurb above does this book no justice, I hope Harper collins change it soon. Read the first chapter and you'll be hooked! It is a milestone in young-adult writing and destined to become a cult classic. 6/5! BUT IT!

Wow!
'With a mirrored dream,
a followed sound,
thus let it begin...'


I bought this book because I was going on holiday and wanted something good to read. The cover of a strange tower and even stranger symbols pulled me in and all I can say is, I wasn't disapointed - it had me hooked from the first page! The first chapter is so gripping, and the second, which is a scene from an internet chatroom is even better! The story tells how Jess, a fourteen year old girl who has gone to live with her parents on a small island called LUME is drawn towards a sinister looking cotage in which she encounters a strange presence. She also finds some symbols - these, she finds out, are Ancient lumic and she has to work out what they say. hyroglifics like that and rymeing riddles are all the way through the book and if you want to you can solve them, but if you're like me and not very good at things like that they're just really exciting and you can read on a bit until Jess solves them. Jess has a dream in which she sees a boy who lived a hundred years ago in her house on Lume and finds her life is repeating his because his mother was going insane and so is Jess's one hundred years later. She must find out what is happening before it is too late, the mysterious 'Epsilon' might be able to help her.

The good things about this book was the fast paced story that kept me reading all night, I had it finnished in a day! Also, the riddles, especialy the ancient lumic, which I learnt and now I can write secret messages in it!

There wasn't a single bad thing!

I think anyone who likes gripping reading, a good mystery and maybe the odd puzzle would love this book!

a really enthralling book
what a read! I totally enjoyed it from the first page. A very creepy "deja vous" kind of story with moments that make you need to turn around to look behind you! You can feel the plot start to thicken as you read, and with every page the story develops and more is revealed about the characters, particularly the mysterious epsilon. I also thought that the main character, Jess, was given a lot of detail that made her feel very real, as she was expelled from school for being rebellious, she is a stroppy teenager who doesn't get on with her parents, and all of this adds up to make her a very believable character.
I think that this is a must read for anyone, as it very clever and puzzling, with some parts that make you think "wow, if Id been in Jess' position, i would never have got that one" and others that make you think "oh, i should have understood that one."

Please, please, please Ms Morton Shaw, write a sequel!!