The Rinaldi Ring

by Jenny Nimmo

Sent away to live with his cousins, the Pipers, after running away from his father for the third time, Eliot is having trouble coping with the death of his mother. But at the Pipers' he is haunted by a presence from the past, a strong ghost that tears up his room, throws books at his cousins, and brings with it a strangely strong smell of flowers. Gradually, Eliot uncovers a strange story from the war, about Mary-Ellen, imprisoned in his room and ultimately threw herself off a bridge, supposedly to be mad at the death of her lover, Orlando Rinaldi, in the trenches. The sinister Freya Greymark stalks the village, holding the Rinaldi Ring, inherited from Orlando's brother, Olive, but rightfully Mary-Ellen's. The haunting gets more intense until the Pipers call Eliot's father to take him away. Running from the car, Eliot at last finds someone who can tell him the real story. The brother who died at the front was Oliver, not Orlando, but Mary-Ellen found Orlando in hospital, wounded beyond recognition, and he died before she could save him. Their baby survived, and was Eliot's grandfather. Opening up the story from the war finally allows Eliot and his father to talk about the death of his mother, and they, and their ancestors, can now rest at peace.

Genres: Fiction

185 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Jenny Nimmo was born in Windsor, Berkshire, England and educated at boarding schools in Kent and Surrey from the age of six until the age of sixteen, when she ran away from school to become a drama student/assistant stage manager with Theater South East. She graduated and acted in repertory theater in various towns and cities: Eastbourne, Tunbridge Wells, Brighton, Hastings, and Bexhill.

She left Britain to teach English to three Italian boys in Almafi, Italy. On her return, she joined the BBC, first as a picture researcher, then as an assistant floor manager, studio manager (news) then finally a director/adaptor with Jackanory (a BBC storytelling program for children). She left BBC to marry a Welsh artist David Wynn Millward and went to live in Wales in her husband's family home. They live in a very old converted watermill, and the river is constantly threatening to break in, as it has done several times in the past, most dramatically on her youngest child's first birthday. During the summer they run a residential school of art, and she has to move her office, put down tools (type-writer and pencil, and don an apron and cook! They have three grown-up children, Myfawny, Ianto, and Gwenwyfar.

Reviews

[Simran · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book when I was 11. I tried and tried to read and understand it but I honestly couldn't. So I just chucked it aside until I rediscovered it when I was about 16. When it read it then, I fell in love with the book. It's so haunting and so poetic. Every scene is so visual and it engaged all of my senses. I've since re-read it multiple times. It's not an easy book to understand, I suppose, but once you do I think it's a great story written in a fascinating way.

[Linda R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Young adults book. I enjoyed it tho. A little bit of easier reading in 2020 is not a bad thing.

[Sophia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good plot and good story, but I feel like it could have been done a bit better

[embun · Rating 5 out of 5]

it's a good book! seriously. because i repeated it few times, as i remembered. i didn't understand the stories fully at first, but repetitions during my older age helped to put the pieces together.

not some scary ghost story. touching and heart wrenching at some points. overall it's about past anger, and forgiveness.

bottom line, i love it.

[Jessie · Rating 1 out of 5]

The best way to know if a book is bad as if I hardly remember anything about it. That is the case with this one.

[Tara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Extremely dissapointing.
I was looking forward to a good scare, if this is what you are looking for too... DON'T READ THIS BOOK.
The writting style was confusing and Hard to read.