This House Is Haunted
A Novel by the Author of The Heart's Invisible Furies
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4.1 • 98 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A Dickensian ghost story from the bestselling author of The Heart’s Invisible Furies and A Ladder to the Sky
“A wonderfully creepy novel…magnificently eerie.” —The Observer
This House Is Haunted is a striking homage to the classic nineteenth-century ghost story. Set in Norfolk in 1867, Eliza Caine responds to an ad for a governess position at Gaudlin Hall. When she arrives at the hall, shaken by an unsettling disturbance that occurred during her travels, she is greeted by the two children now in her care, Isabella and Eustace. There is no adult present to represent her mysterious employer, and the children offer no explanation. Later that night in her room, another terrifying experience further reinforces the sense that something is very wrong.
From the moment Eliza rises the following morning, her every step seems dogged by a malign presence that lives within Gaudlin’s walls. Eliza realizes that if she and the children are to survive its violent attentions, she must first uncover the hall’s long-buried secrets and confront the demons of its past. Clever, captivating, and witty, This House Is Haunted is pure entertainment with a catch.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In 1867 England, 21-year-old Eliza Caine is left completely alone in the world when her father suddenly takes ill and dies. In a fit of melancholia, she responds to an advertisement for a governess to care for a pair of children in the wilds of Norfolk. When she receives a positive response, Eliza realizes that her life is about to undergo a cataclysmic change: she has never been out of London, she has never been a governess, and she knows nothing about Gaudlin Hall which turns out to be an imposing pile of a building, spine-chillingly odd, unsettling, and spooky or her new employers. Drawing sometimes excessively on Rebecca, Wuthering Heights, and the works of Wilkie Collins and Dickens, Boyne (The House of Special Purpose) creates a subtle, satisfying tale of ghostly terror.
Customer Reviews
Great read!
Great, quick read for a solid ghost story, albeit somewhat predictable. The protagonist is a strong female for the mid-1800s: I quite fell in love with her! Mr. Boyle might consider a sequel. There should be more to come!
Disappointed
I am a John Boyle fan. This is not in the zip code of his best work. A long effort for a minuscule conclusion.
Spellbinding!
I could not put this book down! I read until the early morning hours, knowing I’d feel bereft when I finished! Best book I’ve read in a long time that’s kept my interest…