After her father’s death, almost-eleven Ashley and her mother move to get away from the constant reminders of their grief. They end up in a house which was divided into halves, one half for Miss Cooper, the angry, bitter owner of the house, and one half for them. Miss Cooper, who hates kids, orders Ashley to stay away from the wild part of the garden. But Ashley follows a white cat into it, and there discovers a mysterious buried doll…

Ghost stories are the perfect vehicle for stories about grief. This short novel deals movingly with grief and friendship and healing, the impossibility of changing the past and the possibility of changing the present. It’s only a little bit spooky, but is very touching and exactly the right length.

The Doll in the Garden: A Ghost Story

A children’s book from the 80s which I somehow missed, as I missed everything by Hahn, but I have remedied this now thanks to recs from [personal profile] sovay and [personal profile] skygiants.

Like a Brady Bunch gone wrong, a blended family has been formed, consisting of Jean and her two children, 12-year-old Molly and 10-year-old Michael, and Dave and his 7-year-old daughter Heather, whose mother died in a fire when she was 3. Heather hates the entire idea, and takes her unhappiness out fighting with her new siblings and then blaming them.

Because nothing helps a difficult family dynamic like suddenly uprooting everyone and then isolating them together, the parents move them from Baltimore to a secluded church converted into a house, a mile from anywhere, complete with a graveyard in the backyard. This freaks out Molly to begin with, and she gets even more alarmed when Heather gets obsessed with the grave of a 7-year-old child—her age—marked only with the initials H.E.H—her initials.

When Molly spots Heather at the grave talking to an unseen person she calls Helen, Heather accuses her of spying and says threateningly, “Wait till Helen comes.”

AIEEEEEEE!

A very satisfying, eerie ghost story, playing on elements of grief, guilt, and family. Molly, not Heather, is the narrator, and once she realizes that Heather may be in as much or more danger as anyone, she’s put in the difficult position of trying to save someone she doesn’t like, who doesn’t like her and doesn’t want to be saved, when no one else even believes there’s a problem.

I was delighted to discover that many of Hahn’s books are currently in print. If you’ve read others, what do you recommend?

Wait Till Helen Comes: A Ghost Story

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