Ghost by the Sea

While a guest at Culaloe, Robin discovers that the spirit of Milly, a young girl who tragically drowned prior to World War I, is haunting the house, and she and her cousin, John, begin a search for answers to the mysterious happenings involving their family.

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-7. Robin Lambert's older brother Tom lies in a coma, and to escape the tension at home, Robin gladly accepts her grandmother's invitation to visit. Due to a family rift, the girl barely knows her father's family and its history. It is her newfound cousin, John, who spills the beans about the family ghost, Milly Lambert. Milly died in 1914 in a tragic boating accident from which her older brother Tom could not save her. Despite his disappearance during World War I, doubts still linger about his part in the child's death. Family legend also has it that when a Tom Lambert is about to die, Milly's ghost appears. As Robin and John begin putting the pieces together, mean little incidents become common, including Milly's attempt to kill Robin's brother. In the end, all mysteries are solved, and the family feud is patched up. Tom recovers and Milly and the ghost of her Tom wander off into the mist. Dunlop has done a fine job of creating well-defined characters. The plot is well paced but is seriously weakened when readers see too much of Milly and hear too much of her side of the story. Once she is no longer a haunting presence but merely a shade of her former nasty self, the "thriller" element is gone and what had been a ghostly mystery is reduced to a rather ordinary household battle between a nice girl and a vicious one, with some puzzle solving mixed in. This is still a good alternative for mystery lovers who have tired of "Goosebumps," but it is far from Dunlop's best effort.?Patricia A. Dollisch, DeKalb County Public Library, Decatur, GACopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

When Robin, 10, is sent to live with her grandmother while her critically injured brother is in the hospital, she soon finds that Granny's house, Culaloe, has a mysterious history. Before WW I, a girl named Milly drowned, and most folks believed it was the fault of her brother Tom, who did nothing to save the girl when she fell out of their small boat and was swept away. Tragedy has struck each generation of Culaloe dwellers ever since; once Robin realizes that the house not only harbors dark secrets but is haunted by Milly's ghost, she becomes interested in solving the mystery of Milly's tragic end. With the help of her cousin, John, who is also a guest at Culaloe, Robin's search for clues begins, with an unexpected consequence. Milly's ghost reacts violently to the children, initiating a campaign of malicious retaliation that threatens their lives. Their discovery of the truth about Milly's death sets into motion a struggle that can only be resolved by a power greater than theirs--if Milly doesn't kill them first. Dunlop (Tales of St. Patrick, p. 528, etc.) pens a rip-roaring ghost story, properly suspenseful right up until the last page. Some heavy-handed foreshadowing--extraneous in a plot that gallops along as this one does--mars the story; otherwise, this is a real winner in the spook sweepstakes. (Fiction. 8-14) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Reviews

News