Ghost Abbey--Robert Westall

[ripper]

Ghost Abbey by Robert Westall (Macmillan 1988)

12-year-old Maggie's mother died several years before and now she cares for her dad and twin brothers. Despairing at how her dad is drifting and seemingly at the mercy of slatternly Doris--a home help, Maggie presses her dad to accept a job offer from an old friend to work on restoring an old stately home. It's the school summer holidays so Maggie, dad, and the twins Baz and Gaz pile into the family Ford Transit and arrive at the house, which is remote and in a very bad state of repair. Ms. Macfarlane, the house owner, lives at the property and soon a group of MSC trainees are drafted in to help, as well as an old army veteren and his dog. It isn't long until the house begins to show that there is something strange within it. In an upstairs room Maggie sees the ghost of a Civil War soldier and there are disembodied voices and singing. One of the MSC trainees vandalises some of the house's stonework and ends up crippled when a ledge collapses and he plunges to the ground. Maggie suspects that anyone who doesn't respect the house is in danger of retribution but her dad scoffs at the idea. Meanwhile dad and Ms. Macfarlane are getting closer and obviously attracted to each other. One of the twins is almost drowned after falling into the pond while fishing for a carp. This confirms to Maggie that the house is dangerous and she plans to get her dad and brothers away. But will the house let them go and does Maggie really want to go?

I've had this one sitting on my shelf for a while and finally got around to reading it. I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it and it is up to Westall's usual high standard. While aimed at the early teens, like many of the author's books, it can be read and enjoyed by a far wider audience. The characters are likeable and the story drew me in very quickly. It is an unsettling book, rather than an out-and-out terror-fest, and Westall shows his usual subtlety in dealing with adult themes. It is a fairly short book, though I could have happily read more of Maggie's adventures in the house. As I was reading I was reminded ever so slightly of Shirley Jackson's Haunting of Hill House, with Maggie playing the part of a young Eleanor; like Jackson's heroine, Maggie appears to be the centre of the haunting and sees/hears/feels things that the others do not, and has the same love-hate relationship with the house, wanting to leave, yet wanting to stay. I would urge anyone who likes a good, traditional ghost story, or anyone who just likes a rattlingly good tale, to give this one a go.

[dem bones]

Thanks for that, Rip, sounds very much my kind of thing. Would recommend his collections Break Of Dark and The Call too if you've not read them. Have since found a copy of his Christmas Spirit, two festive ghost novellas, but they seem to be directed at the very young as opposed to we children of all ages.

Robert Westall - Christmas Spirit (Mammoth 2000, originally 1995)

Larry Rostant

Blurb:
Two classic Christmas tales by Robert Westall
The Christmas Cat:
Can an abandoned cat and an unruly boy save a girl from a miserable holiday at her uncle's vicarage?
The Christmas Ghost:
A boy receives a desperate warning from a ghost but who will take it seriously?

Robert Westall winner of the Smarties Prize, the Guardian Children's Fiction Award
and twice winner of the Carnegie Medal.

[ripper]

Thanks for the tip on the Westall collections, Dem. I think the only one of his collections I have read is Antique Dust, which I enjoyed. I have a copy of his Stones of Moncaster Cathedral, which is a collection of 2 novellas. I am expecting Stones to be Jamesian to a lesser or greater extent--it might have been on Rosemary Pardoe's James Gang list. Anyway, I am going to give it a go :-).

[cauldronbrewer]

May 10, 2014 14:49:07 GMT ripper said:

I've had this one sitting on my shelf for a while and finally got around to reading it. I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it and it is up to Westall's usual high standard. While aimed at the early teens, like many of the author's books, it can be read and enjoyed by a far wider audience. The characters are likeable and the story drew me in very quickly. It is an unsettling book, rather than an out-and-out terror-fest, and Westall shows his usual subtlety in dealing with adult themes. It is a fairly short book, though I could have happily read more of Maggie's adventures in the house. As I was reading I was reminded ever so slightly of Shirley Jackson's Haunting of Hill House, with Maggie playing the part of a young Eleanor; like Jackson's heroine, Maggie appears to be the centre of the haunting and sees/hears/feels things that the others do not, and has the same love-hate relationship with the house, wanting to leave, yet wanting to stay. I would urge anyone who likes a good, traditional ghost story, or anyone who just likes a rattlingly good tale, to give this one a go.

I took you up on this, Ripper, and I'm happy that I did. For me, Westall is now up there with Chris Priestley and Alison Prince as an author of "young adult" horror that's as good as the best recent "adult" horror. He's strong on character, plot, and atmosphere. I even found the ending of Ghost Abbey a bit profound.

I'm trying to decide which works of Westall's to read next. The "adult" short story collection Antique Dust sounds intriguing, but so do Break of Dark and The Call.

[ripper]

Hi CB, I am glad that you enjoyed Ghost Abbey so much. I agree with you about Westall's strengths as a writer. That ending really set me thinking. Is it a happy ending or a more disturbing one? I am just not sure, and it is a good illustration of how subtle Westall can be.

Antique Dust is a pretty good collection imo. I can also recommend his young adult novel The Wheatstone Pond. I have said this before, but he really does deserve to be much better known outside the young adult sector.