Monica Hughes’ 30 books for young people are remarkably varied, from her celebrated Isis sci-fi series to historical fiction to realism. What they share is engaging, forthright characters with a keen awareness of the world. Hughes’ latest, The Seven Magpies, employs that genre still so dear to the hearts of young female readers, the school story, and adds history and Hughes’ trademark streak of fantasy. Notably absent is Canadian content: the setting is Scotland, the characters Scottish. The Celtic magic goes back to the dawn of time, while the story starts in the early days of the Second World War – an era that must itself seem like ancient history to young readers. It’s a period Hughes has explored before, for example, in Blaine’s Way, and she is thoroughly at ease in it.

War has suspended ordinary life for “the duration,” sending 14-year-old Maureen Frazer’s father to the front, and Maureen herself to a remote boarding school in a castle at the edge of the highlands. She arrives to find the rest of the Lower Fifth class have already bonded, Enid-Blyton fashion, around their Secret Seven society, leaving Maureen odd one out. She misses her beloved father and resents her mother who, after packing her off in the name of safety, is (in Maureen’s opinion) having far too good a time in the women’s naval service.

Hughes writes wonderfully about lochs and burns and cattle “with hides like hearthrugs and great horns curving like bicycle handles.” There’s suspense and palm-dampening danger, late-night sacrifices at the foot of a Standing Stone, and a mysterious man – a deserter or maybe a German spy? – lurking in the heather. The cast has fine bit parts, and Maureen is a well-developed character who finds adults interesting, doesn’t hold grudges, and appreciates the civilized comfort of a hot cup of tea. From the familiar base of schoolgirl bitchiness and boarding-school food, Hughes widens the focus to larger – international – dramas and issues of truthfulness and conscience in a world badly in need of good magic. The Seven Magpies should export well while delighting domestic readers.