A very middle grade ghost story, The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall (2010) was my first Mary Downing Hahn book and I hope her others are better as I hear good things about them. This is a short tale about an orphaned twelve-year old girl, Florence, who has finally been sent for by her Great-Uncle Thomas, who keeps a country home with his sister, Great-Aunt Eugenia, and his nephew James. But there is one other resident of the house, one with evil intentions, and that is James' dead sister Sophia.
Though this book was definitely creepy, I couldn't stand Florence's lack of willpower or her Aunt Eugenia's ridiculous prejudice against her. The characters were just too one-dimensional and I was disappointed that the female main character was so weak. I was actually kind of rooting for something bad to happen to her by the end, which I'm sure wasn't the author's intention.
If anyone could recommend a better MDH book to me, I would appreciate it! I'm willing to give her another chance.
More indignant than frightened,
K
I'm sorry to hear this was a disappointment. It looked very promising at first glance.
ReplyDeleteI know. That's what I thought too. :P
DeleteThe cover is lovely and the title promises a scary gothic read. Sorry to hear that it did not live up to your expectations...
ReplyDeletePerhaps my expectations were too high? I wonder what I would have thought if I had read it as a kid.
DeleteWell I shall know not to try this one!
ReplyDeleteYeah, there's probably lots of better choices out there.
DeleteOh, what a bummer! I think this author wrote Wait Till Helen Comes, right? I remember that book creeping me out like crazy when I was younger!
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'll try that one! I'm hoping this one is not representative of her other novels.
DeleteWell darn. I have heard good things about Mary Downing Hahn too, and the plot summary sounds exactly like my kind of book. If you find a better book by her you will have to let me know.
ReplyDeleteI will definitely let you know. There are other books that are owned by many more people on LT so I assume those are the better ones. It will be a fun trial and error, I guess!
DeleteOh, what a disappointment.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the honest review though.
Lynn :D