The Ghosts

by Antonia Barber

When Lucy sat in the attic, she thought she heard the sound of voices calling...

That's when she started to believe the rumors in the village that the old house was haunted. But no ghosts appeared - until the day Lucy and her brother Janie stood in the garden and watched two pale figures, a girl and a boy, coming toward them. That was the beginning of a strange and dangerous friendship between Lucy and Jamie and two children who had died a century before. The ghost children desperately needed their help. But would Lucy and Jamie have the courage to venture into the past - and change the terrible events that had led to murder?

My sister owned a copy of this book at one time and I remember reading it when I was a young adolescent and thinking it was the bees knees of murder mystery novels, a genre I've never really gotten into, with the exception of a brief initiation into the world of Nancy Drew. For the last year or two I've occasionally thought of this book and have tried to track it down with only that old edition cover art to go on. A couple of months ago I was finally met with success on Amazon.com and waited in great anticipation for my find to arrive.

I have to say, the book failed to live up to my memory of it. Not that it was a crappy book, I guess I was just expecting the Juvenile Fiction story that my juvenile self read to grow with me into adulthood. That being said, I did enjoy the book. Barber created a beautiful ghost story, full of missed opportunities, heartache and regrets. The four children each have very distinct personalities that add immense dimension to the plot. The adults in the book provide an interesting foil for those personalities; the reader, if looking, is able to see the children's innocence and the adults manipulative, self-serving side-by-side, as well as those characteristics that will, inevitably, turn that innocence into those, if less malevolent, more adult qualities.

The writing is simple and genuine. The story is well developed, although I will say it might have been rushed just a little. There are many strands of plot that are all feeding into the main story, creating the mystery, and Barber could have taken just a little more time to go into some of those sub-plots and motivations. I liked the way Lucy and Jamie were able to enter Sara and her brother's world, feeling how they felt as ghosts.

The Ghosts really is a good, quick read and I know this is one I will pick up off my bookshelf every now and then to peruse again.

Aurelia

by Anne Osterlund

Mystery, Danger, Romance. This book had the potential to be really good, but, alas, it was a pretty big waste of my time.

Aurelia was not well written, the charaters were flat and the plot was dull. The romance was not developed and I didn't really relate to or even like the heroine, Aurelia. There was also a lack of that essential ingredient, that pivotal moment and the change that each character must face. Her family, the villains of the story (sorry to spoil it, but you really don't want to read this book anyway) start and end as selfish, spoiled and mean hearted. The discovery that Aurelia's half-sister is trying to kill her incites no more than an eye twitch in her father and Aurelia never even confronts her. There is no punishment for the antagonists and no real reward for the protagonists. It was a very tedius read for the YF section.

I suppose this could be categorized as a wholesome story, but boring and really a waste of valuable reading time.

The Thirteenth Tale

by Diane Setterfield

The Thirteenth Tale has made me evaluate the way I review books. Since reading is an escape for me, I tend to base my "ratings" on how entertaining the book was and, consequently, if I would read it again. This book, while it was entertaining, intriguing, well written, was one I probably won't read again.

That statement might sound a little contrary, but this book held such a beautiful mystery and, now that the secrets have been revealed and the story is over, I don't feel like it would ever be as good as it was this first time. The jacket states that "The Thirteenth Tale is a love letter to reading..." I can't explain how, but that phrase seems to sum it up well. This book is for those that cringe at the sight of a loose binding or torn page, but simultaneously love a book more for these obvious signs of wear, as they indicate that what lies inside is more than a story; it is a treasured friend, a memory that may as well be your own. Oddly, this is not really what the book is about at all. The story, the tales that are interwoven to create a life, is not about books, exactly.

The characters in The Thirteenth Tale, in looking back, are familiar, yet ordinary. I am not quite sure how I even came to know them; but somehow they pushed though the misty ghost story and delved into me. The conclusion to this book was achingly beautiful. There were loose ends, secrets taken to the grave long before Vida Winter's story began, but somehow the wondering and the realization that there are no answers is a fitting conclusion.

There were some instances of violence and abuse, though not graphic. Wonderful.