October 2024
The Ghost of Gosswater by Lucy Strange
I read quite a few books this month and it was difficult to just pick one to review. That's why I'm giving you two! So if you wish to extend your spooky/autumnal reading list into November — which you should — here are my recommendations.
This book first caught my eye on Pinterest because of the cover — well done Helen Crawford-White. I was just entranced by the cold blue tones of the lake interrupted by the rust brown of the trees and the silvery ghost girl at the forefront of it. Just lovely and eerie; a perfect compliment to the story.
The story is about a girl named Agatha. Her father, the 29th earl of Gosswater has passed away and as it turns out Agatha isn't really his daughter after all. This leads to Agatha's malicious cousin Clarence kicking her out of her home to live with her supposed real father in his humble goose farm cottage; not far from a lake where a ghost girl is looking to right some wrongs.
The book takes a while to get ghosting and the ghost girl features a little less in the story's events than I had first anticipated. However, I still loved this book so much. Curling up with it on the sofa every single evening; candles lit, cup of tea in hand. It was the perfect comforting environment to read this story in; contrasting the often cold, dark and frightening scenes in the book. I have to mention this is a middle grade book, so nothing too scary that might keep you up at night, but just eerie enough to set the mood.
The true terror for me was definitely cousin Clarence. What an unpleasant piece of work he is. I thought we were only going to see him briefly at the beginning of the book to set things up, but no — he kept on creeping up everywhere. I have to admit, his motivation is a little on the meager side. He seems to have but one goal and it's not really explained in a lot of detail why exactly it is imperative that he reaches this goal, but I didn't mind that very much in this particular story.
I've learned that, what keeps me interested in a story is the relationships between the characters. I felt very invested in the relationship between Agatha and her father—although his communication skills could use some work—as well as her relationship with Bryn Black, her new friend. Who was indisputably my favourite character in the whole book. What a survivor that boy is and what an incredible friend he is to Agatha.
The theme of identity and acceptance were beautifully wrapped in a bit of a mystery throughout the story. The atmosphere was perfectly eerie and at times even cosy. I will definitely try some other titles by this author.
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