The story is set in December,1933.The main characters in this story are Aunt Alberta also known as Awful Auntie, Alberta's pet Wagner, (the Great Bavarian Mountain Owl ),Young Lady Stella Saxby or Stella for short, Soot ( the ghost of the chimney sweep),Gibbon (the ancient butler) and the so called Detective Strauss.
I found this book not only funny, it is also full of mystery, thrill, suspense, murder and torture. My favourite character is Wagner and although Wagner was portrayed as a ferocious bird, in the end Wagner was the hero. My favourite chapter is "My Bottom! My Bottom!"-it is the chapter where Stella and Soot play tricks on Alberta such as putting ants in her pants and boot polish in her soap. The funniest character is Gibbon the butler because he would do the most silliest and outrageous things such as mow the carpet, iron the plants, boil your shoes,serve a ball for breakfast, take the rug for a walk and water the sofa. The scariest most suspenseful part in this book for me was when Soot fell into the frozen pond.
I didn't like the part where Aunt Alberta put Stella on the Owl Rack-I did not like reading the way Stella screamed when Alberta turned the handle as it stretched Stella's limbs. That was torture.
There are quite a few illustrations by Tony Ross in this book and my favourites are of Aunt Alberta with Wagner and of Soot. There is also an illustration on Stella's family tree and the grounds of Saxby Hall.
Before reading this book, as any child would wish I too was rather eager to be a grown-up, thinking of all the cool things I can do such as drive a car, stay up late, do all the ''cool'' stuff grown -ups get to do. Now I am going to enjoy every minute of my huge imagination,a mind that is open and believes in magic and still be able to have all the fun cool stuff a kid does.
This is book is suitable for children above 8 years old (note: it might be a bit scary so best to get the adults to read it with you too).
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