Helen Peters

Evie's Ghost

Stefie 

Kim Tyo-Dickerson

Sophia Fane
Imprisoned here
27th April 1814

In a former country house that has been converted to characterless modern flats, Evie is dully anticipating a boring week with a godmother she has never met and a broken phone while her mother goes on her honeymoon with a new husband. When Evie is led to her room, she reads a tiny scratched message in her bedroom window, and her godmother Anna tells her about the long ago unsolved mystery of Sophia Fane, who was locked in her room by her father when she refused to marry the old, violent yet wealthy man her father arranged for her to marry to save her family's fortunes. No one knows what happened to her, whether she lived the rest of her life in that room, whether she escaped with the handsome gardener she was in love with, and what happened to the baby she was rumoured to be carrying when she was locked up.

Later that night, at the stroke of midnight, there is desperate howling through the chimney, tap-tap-tapping at the window, and when Evie goes to look out she sees a miserable young woman in a long white nightdress raised her hand to the window, mouthing, "Help me." Evie races out of the room and into the hall in terror, but suddenly she is no longer in her borrowed white high-necked nightgown, but wearing a long brown apron over a grey dress, black boots, a corset clutching her chest. The dull boxed flats up and down the corridor have turned into gorgeously appointed rooms with a thick carpet under her feet. And a bustling, stern woman comes down the hall and asks her if she is the new housemaid. The present is gone, and Evie finds herself in the year 1814.

I was caught by the cover and title, and was very much in the mood for a ghost story, but this time-slip novel was a lot of fun to read as the fall days grow cooler and the leaves begin to turn. I am looking forward to sharing this with my upper school students today!

Compelling period fiction for 9+ readers from the Waterstones Children's Prize shortlisted Helen Peters. Evie couldn't be angrier with her mother. She's only gone and got married again and has flown off on honeymoon, sending Evie to stay with a godmother she's never even met in an old, creaky house in the middle of nowhere. It is all monumentally unfair. But on the first night, Evie sees a strange, ghostly figure at the window. Spooked, she flees from the room, feeling oddly disembodied as she does so. Out in the corridor, it's 1814 and Evie finds herself dressed as a housemaid. She's certain she's gone back in time for a reason. A terrible injustice needs to be fixed. But there's a housekeeper barking orders, a bad-tempered master to avoid, and the chamber pots won't empty themselves. It's going to take all Evie's cunning to fix things in the past so that nothing will break apart in the future... Absorbing, brilliant storytelling from the author of The Secret Hen House Theatre, The Farm Beneath the Water and The Jasmine Green Series for younger readers.

CW: child slavery, child abuse.

I went into the book not really knowing what would happen. I read the summary a while ago and just recently borrowed it from the library - hence, I could not remember much. But, I read it in one sitting.

I enjoy Evie's Ghost. It is a page turner, but I started to lose interest after 60-70% of the book. I decided to keep going and finished the book. The ending was good. I love how it ended that way. 

Also, when I started reading and presented by an important sign from the past (about Sophia), I was really curious to know why, and expect it would be explore even more about it. But I felt like most of the time, it focuses instead on Evie's relationship/conversation with her friend Polly, that is not really that connected to Sophia. (You gotta read it to understand what I mean. and I am trying hard to not spoil you + I do love their friendship though) Anyway,, it is not a bad book. And if you love historical fiction, I think you'd enjoy Evie's Ghost.

P.s even though the title contains the word "ghost" in it, it's not scary at all. It's a bit spooky in the beginning but that's it :)

Evie's Ghost

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