This is a book about family secrets and a ghost. Not new ideas, certainly, but Stein’s story of a young boy returning to the family mansion with his dad during a trial separation from his mother is, at times, gut-wrenching in the discomfort that dredging up the past brings. And this family has a particularly grim past as timber barons that essentially raped any land that it owned. This is a story about debts to be paid and amends to be made, about family and honoring loved ones who have gone before us. It’s also just plain spooky.
–Claire, Village Books, Bellingham, WA
Riddell House sits on a large estate overlooking the Puget Sound. But this is no normal house. It’s a mansion completely built out of full grown, giant trees. By spending the summer there with his father, 14 year old Trevor is determined to send his grandfather to a home, sell the land, and bring his recently separated parents back together. However, he soon discovers that the house is not only home to his grandfather and aunt, but to many secrets and a ghost with it’s own story. Haunting and beautifully written, Garth Stein has delivered another wonderfully, captivating narrative and it was very difficult to put down!
–Lauren S., also of Village Books
Find this and more spooky reads at Village Books and other independent bookstores. You might also enjoy this flashback to the party in Seattle when the book came out.