The Clackity
-
- $15.99
Publisher Description
Reminiscent of Doll Bones and Small Spaces, this “delightfully eerie” (Erin A. Craig, New York Times bestselling author of House of Salt and Sorrows) middle grade novel tells the story of a girl who must rescue her aunt by entering a world of ghosts, witches, and monsters to play a game with deadly consequences.
Evie Von Rathe lives in Blight Harbor—the seventh-most haunted town in America—with her Aunt Desdemona, the local paranormal expert. Des doesn’t have many rules except one: Stay out of the abandoned slaughterhouse at the edge of town. But when her aunt disappears into the building, Evie goes searching for her.
There she meets The Clackity, a creature who lives in the shadows and seams of the slaughterhouse. The Clackity makes a deal with Evie to help get Des back in exchange for the ghost of John Jeffrey Pope, a serial killer who stalked Blight Harbor a hundred years earlier. Evie reluctantly embarks on a journey into a strange otherworld filled with hungry witches, penny-eyed ghosts, and a memory-thief, all while being pursued by a dead man whose only goal is to add Evie to his collection of lost souls. Will she ever find Des, or is The Clackity planning something far more sinister?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ever since her parents were declared legally dead, Evelyn von Rathe, a copper-haired 12-year-old who experiences anxiety and panic attacks, has lived with her aunt Desdemona in Blight Harbor, "the seventh most haunted town in America (per capita)." No stranger to the uncanny, Evie occasionally helps her aunt, an advice columnist on matters supernatural, when she takes on cases of "otherworldly concerns" around town. But when Desdemona is captured by frightening creature The Clackity, it offers Evie a bargain: she must venture into a nightmare realm to find her aunt, surviving a series of seven eldritch houses, and lure in the ghost of Jeffrey John Pope, a notorious serial killer who used an abattoir for his crimes. With only the magical tattoo of a sparrow for companionship and protection, Evie undergoes a terrifying journey, testing mind, body, and spirit. Adeptly invoking folkloric elements while creating something darkly original, Senf intimately renders Evie's trials as both internal and external in an atmospheric adventure that will appeal to readers of Neil Gaiman and middle grade horror. Occasional b&w art by Cáceres adds to the book's eerie feel; human characters cue as white. Ages 10–12. Author's agent: Ali Herring, Spencerhill Assoc.
