The Ogre of Oglefort; Eva Ibbotson

The Ogre of Oglefort by Eva Ibbotson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the last of Eva Ibbotson's books (I'm guessing, given her death last year) and it's a wonderful one. We start in post-war London, where there's a boarding house with Unusual People: a Hag, a troll, a wizard, an enchantress, a couple of hankies and a very normal human. Oh, and Gladys, the Hag's familiar. Gladys decides she's too tired to continue on, and so the Hag must find another familiar before heading to the Meeting, at which all London's Unusual People will learn the Summer Task. Of course, she finds an orphan, Ivo.

The task, it appears, is to rid a Fun Fair of micekill an Ogre and rescue a Princess. Abandoned by all the other UPs, the Hag, troll, wizard and Ivo head off to Oglefort... where it is not all as it appears to be. I can't say more without spoiling things, but if you like Wrede's "Enchanted Forest" series this book will be a hit.

ARC provided by publisher.

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