The Dark Unwinding

Author: Sharon Cameron

Publisher: Scholastic Press

After being sent by your aunt to your uncle’s estate, where he is supposedly wasting the family’s money, Katharine Tulman finds “Uncle Tully”. Uncle Tully lives on a private estate where another nine hundred people he has taken from London and from poverty live. Katharine also finds that Uncle Tully is surprisingly like a child in his commitment to his workshop, where he invents incredible “toys”. But as Katharine suddenly finds herself learning to love Uncle Tully and his strange habits, she also realizes she doesn’t want to betray him to her aunt–but this will prove harder than Katharine thinks. 

The Dark Unwinding is based in the past, so readers with a liking of historical fiction will appreciate this book. Readers that are really looking to think as they read will definitely enjoy this book because of the questions that it makes you think about as you read.

The Dark Unwinding is definitely a book for older readers. Because of the not very fast (but not slow, it’s just the way the book is written) plot, younger readers would probably get bored. Another thing I didn’t like very much about this book was the barrage of names it presented you with. I got confused very rarely, but it did happen, unfortunately. There were lots of names and facts that you had to remember. However, I did like this book in that it made you think a lot. Just about every chapter there was a new question or idea to ponder.