Thought for the Day:“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day, you shall begin it well and serenely…” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson~
Some Gifts for My Writer Friends:
The Ghost in the Glass House
By Carey Wallace
Clarion Books, $16.99, 240 pages
Clare has not been home in three years, not since shortly after her father died. Her mother took Clare and began to travel the world, to be anywhere but where Clare’s father wasn’t. They find themselves in another rented home near the seaside. Everyone else from their group has seaside summer homes, but not Clare and her mother. But they have some things no one else has: a glass house and a resident ghost. The glass house is locked and Tilda, the housekeeper, claims the key has been lost. Clare’s mother finds the key, but Tilda hides it away. Clare keeps watch and discovers where the key is and makes a wax duplicate. When she enters the glass house, a disembodied voice speaks to her. Over days, the ghost, Jack, comes to depend on Clare and even to love her. When Clare tries to have time with her own friends, a complicated group, jealousy rears its ugly head.
“A faint weight covered her entire hand now, as if a leaf had fallen onto it from a tree above. It had none of the heat of Bram’s hand, but warmth spread through her from it, as if a tide had turned in her blood, drawing it all toward that place with stronger and stronger waves.”
This charming ghost story, set in the roaring twenties, won’t scare anyone, but shines a light on the complications of the human condition within a lovely and mysterious book.
If you would like to have my gently-read copy of The Ghost in the Glass House, please be a follower (in the column to the right where it says “Followers” just click to Join This Site. Easy and free.), then leave a comment about the post today. Your name will go into the proverbial hat one time for that. If you want more chances, Tweet the link or post it on Facebook or some other social media sharing and tell me about it. I will put your name in the hat once more for each time you do that. This drawing is for U.S. addresses only. If you would like to hear about more marvelous middle-grade books, please hop on over to the lovely Shannon Messenger’s blog by clicking HERE and checking out the list she posts for Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday.