Fanny Crowe - kind teacher or wicked witch?

That was the question that troubled unhappy twelve-year-old Richard Blackburn. For how could the newly arrived English governess befriend his sisters by day, yet by night live in the haunted old building that had caused his mother's tragic death?
It troubled the others, too, for in colonial Australia superstitions ran strong and the locals resented an outsider meddling with a past that was best forgotten. And then there was the loathsome old hermit from the mountain who had his own reasons for wanting the new schoolteacher out of the way.
And so, as Fanny struggled to establish her little school in the untamed Australian bush, all eyes were upon her. But it was Richard, desperately trying to come to terms with his grief and the painful process of growing up, who would eventually uncover the truth.