I have read several of Mary Downing Hahn's ghost stories and they are mostly well-written and atmospheric. In Wait Till Helen Comes, twelve year old Molly and her ten year old brother Michael are unhappy that their summer plans have been ruined by their mom and stepdad's decision to move to the country to devote time to their artistic pursuits. Things are made even more difficult by their seven year old stepsister, Heather, an extremely unhappy little girl who appears to hate Molly, Michael, and their mom. Heather is very possessive of her dad and rebuffs any friendly overtures by Molly's mom.
When the family moves to their new home, Molly is shocked to discover that their new place, an old church, also comes with an old graveyard! Molly senses something is not quite right with the graveyard especially when Heather finds a long-forgotten grave. Molly gets a bad feeling when she sees that the tombstone has the initials HEH, the same as Heather's. Soon after, Heather begins acting very strangely, and Molly thinks that Heather may be haunted by the spirit of a restless ghost who died almost a century ago. The trouble is, no one believes Molly, and the family tensions increase to the point that Molly loses all credibility with her mom and stepdad. When Molly and Michael do some research at the local library, they unearth some unsettling facts about the history of Harper House, the old ruins which has become Heather's favorite haunt. Molly fears that Heather's ghost friend may be a malignant spirit intent on causing all of them harm, but who is going to believe her and help her?
The author creates a credible sense of suspense and menace, and the story flows well. Molly is a character one can sympathize with, yet her scaredy-cat manner does get annoying at times. The spirit of the girl ghost is well portrayed, as is the character of Heather, a lonely, vulnerable, and deeply disturbed child. This another atmospheric and suspenseful ghost story from Ms. Hahn.
No comments:
Post a Comment