Described as a fantasy adventure for middle-grade readers, this was my first experience of Mafi’s writing and it strikes me that ‘Furthermore’ is the kind of book that I think I would have loved as a younger reader.
Alice Queensmeadow lives in Ferenwood and she spends a lot of her time being ignored by her mother, and desperately keen to find out what happened to her father after he left three years earlier. In this world, magic is used with caution and Alice bitterly resents the fact that though she can change the colour of any object, she is unable to change herself.
When an old friend, Oliver, turns up and asks for Alice’s help in travelling to the mysterious land of Furthermore it is clear that her adventure is going to be like nothing she has experienced before.
This was a curious tale, full of vivid and evocative description. More than once I felt there were nods to Wonderland, but all works out okay in the end.