Lonasei and the Mystery of Origin Grove
Kenneth Chapman

          

Lonasei and the Mystery of Origin Grove
Kenneth Chapman
Bateman Books (2026)
Junior novel, 222 pages
Paperback
ISBN 9 781 77689 165 8

 

‘At eleven years old, Lonasei was a curious girl. She was always asking too many questions; at least that’s what people told her.’

Lonasei and her sister Eva Grace (16) live with their hard-working solo mother, Aria Nix, in Porirua.  Their lives change suddenly when they attend the funeral of Aria’s estranged sister, Malia Tuivasa, a successful artist. Malia’s will has left her sister Origin Grove, their childhood home. It is an overgrown, three-storeyed mansion which stands isolated in the back-country behind Paraparaumu, ‘the only home as far as the eye can see.’

 Aria’s plan is that they will live in the huge, fully-furnished house, until she can sell it. Her daughters resent having to leave their home and friends behind, but Eva Grace is pleased to have her own room at last. Meanwhile Lonasei’s curiosity is aroused particularly when she looks at some of Malia’s paintings which remain in the house. Maria had left messages in envelopes for Aria, Eva Grace and Lonasei. Lonasei had been puzzled by a sentence in her letter from Maria, ‘I hope that through the art on the walls, we can still connect, even though I’m no longer there.’  Lonasei is soon asking questions about her family’s past.

 

At this point, the junior novel switches from being the story of a poor Pasifika family trying to make ends meet and becomes a supernatural mystery thriller as well. Hearing a sniffing sound, Lonasei goes downstairs at night and finds her mother weeping in a basement room. Aria tells Lonasei never to go down into the basement again. Of course, Lonasei’s curiosity has already been aroused, especially because of the strange black door she saw in the room.

Malia’s paintings, showing herself and Aria in the time when they were living in the house, seem to draw Lonasei in. Is she dreaming this or is there a supernatural force at work? Either way, Lonasei is disturbed to realise that Malia and Aria once had a little sister, Agnes, who disappeared mysteriously. Then Lonasei finds the hidden door to Malia’s studio where there are even more paintings. The house seems to be beckoning her. ‘The urge to go deeper, to explore and discover overrode her fear.’ Before long Lonasei is deep in the dark basement, seeking the answers to her questions.

Kenneth Chapman’s clear narrative style keeps his readers aware of what characters are thinking and feeling. I particularly enjoyed his description of Lonasei’s first night in a room of her own, a room so big that she felt ‘as if she was sleeping in her school assembly hall.’

 Nathan Foon has provided a suitably creepy cover painting of the mansion, as well as black and white chapter heading illustrations. The sinister black door makes an appearance on the back cover.

 Kenneth Chapman has written a captivating page-turner in Lonasei and the Mystery of Origin Grove. While the narrative stays with Lonasei, there is also a warm portrait of a Pasifika family, with a hard-working mother holding down two jobs. The scratchy relationship between the two young sisters is also neatly developed in a way that young readers will recognise.

In fact, this is in many ways a novel about sisterhood. All this is wrapped up in a pleasantly creepy tale of supernatural forces, which ends with a surprising revelation that promises sequels. What more could a young reader ask.

 

 Trevor Agnew 

17 Mar 2026 [Review 3827]