A Face at the Window

by Dennis McFarland

After sending their only daughter off to boarding school, Cookson Selway and his wife, Ellen, travel to London to escape their empty house. But their quiet hotel has guests other than those on the register, and the vacation turns into a journey not only to another city but to another time. As Selway is drawn into a series of mysterious encounters with a young girl who died in a fall from his hotel window sixty years earlier, the characters of her life become more real to him than those of his own. An escapist with an alcoholic history, he secretly relishes the chance to move from his lackluster reality into the high drama of the girl's past. But as he begins to do so, he jeopardizes his marriage and the lives of those around him, and the consequences of his escape are far greater than he could ever have imagined.

In a novel that is by turns comic, terrifying, and tragic, Dennis McFarland delivers a fascinating story of a haunted man's spiritual awakening.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Ghosts, Historical Fiction, Paranormal, Suspense, Drama

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

A 1975 Brooklyn College graduate, McFarland also attended and later taught at Goddard College and Stanford University. At Stanford, McFarland worked as teacher of creative writing from 1981 to 1986. His fiction has appeared in Best American Short Stories and The New Yorker. McFarland is married Michelle Simons, and together they have two children. He lives with his family in Massachussetts.

Reviews

[Vincent Desjardins · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Cookson Selway, a man with an alcoholic past, accompanies his wife to London on a research trip for her new mystery novel, he finds that the rooms in their “masterpiece theater” style hotel are haunted by several ghostly entities. Because he alone experiences the full extent of their presence, Cookson at first believes they are a product of his imagination. But as he becomes more and more entangled in the past lives of these not so innocent spirits, he finds himself believing in, and becoming drawn into, their ghostly reality. A well-done, intellegent story of a man’s descent into a darkness that threatens his marriage and the very lives of those he befriends. A creepy and satisfying psychological mystery.

[Thea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unlike any ghost story I've ever read, and that's a good thing. This is only partly a supernatural tale; it also is a blow-by-blow account of the narrator's unraveling --he is endearing in an 'effed up sort of way, probably reliable, and insightful to the point of making the reader uncomfortable. This is a haunting novel, and that has nothing to do with the ghosts.

[Kathryn Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book until the end, when everything sort of fell apart. Up until that point, it was an engaging and well-written ghost story with plenty of spooky atmosphere. However, I didn't feel very connected to the characters and wasn't all that concerned for their welfare. Then came the ending, which for me did not go far enough explaining the haunting. That said, I looked forward to reading it each night.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really beautifully written in parts, but ultimately very disturbing "ghost story", I guess, which really didn't seem to have a point, and resulted in a tragic death.

[Rati Mehrotra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even the cover of this book disturbs me. Just look at it. It woke me in the middle of the night and I had trouble going back to sleep. Maybe I shouldn’t read horror. This is more on the literary side of the genre though, which somehow makes it worse. Bad things happen, there is no closure, either for the reader or the ghosts that haunt the protagonist. A protagonist which, I must add, I did not like.

But it is very well-written, and a page-turner. Recommended for those who like their fiction disturbing, ambiguous, and chilling.

[Judy Lacourciere · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd read this years ago and found myself thinking about it. It was just as good the second time around. A very weird and atmospheric ghost story that is both unbelievable and totally believable at the same time.

Cook, the extremely flawed narrator, has no idea what he's up against with his vague notion of helping the ghosts haunting an old hotel "move on"; the ghosts are just fine where they are, thank you very much, and have a few very unpleasant surprises up their sleeves.

[Naomi Tonjes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't bother, it started out pretty well, your typical ghost story with an interesting twist and then nothing. I kept reading expecting to get to a point. I gave it an extra star because it did draw me in enough to make it to the last ten pages. Once I realized there was no point to the book, I was furious.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty decent descent into the psychological supernatural, leaving you with uncertainties about the truth of events as you go along while watching a man wrestle with his need to understand the events involving some spirits he meets in a rented London vacation flat.

[Isabella Queirouz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Um Rosto na Janela Portuguese version) excelente obra excelente autor adorei !!Cookson Selway his problematic childhood and youth.Now at age 44 he travels with his wife Helen to London after his teenage daughter goes away to a boarding school.He begins to believe that the hotel he's staying in , is haunted.Cook begins acting increasingly strangely, and his wife and the people she befriends (in particular the Sho-pans, an elderly Chinese couple) are convinced that Cook has started drinking again or is having some kind of mental breakdown. The reader is never given a final explanation for what happens; the "ghosts" certainly seem to reenact events from the hotel’s history, but they are also deeply linked to Cook’s own obsessions.Whether Cook’s ghosts are the products of dreams, alcoholic dementia, psychosis, or just of an old English haunted hotel, McFarland leads us to consider how precarious reality must be, when stable adult identity has to grow from something as vulnerable as childhood.

"Row Row Row your boat" when he whistled involuntarily the initial of this song, I knew it was here the problem cause I knew the continuation of it merly merly merly merly life is about a dream.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had read somewhere that this was a truly scary read and I'm always looking for movies and books that scare me. Unfortunately, nothing ever does. But, I thought I'd give it a shot. It was well-written and engaging as a story. But, though it had surprises and was populated with spirits, it failed as a thriller for me. However, it is interesting that the character flaws of the main character, Cookson Selway, are reflected in the situations and characters of the ghosts and Cookson's experiences with them.

[Mary Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good and if you don't think so you are quantifiably wrong. McFarland is a master of language and of walking the line between the supernatural and the worldly. It wasn't a scary story by any means, but it was unsettling and the placement of detail made me feel for the main character Cook in a very unusual way. Some other reviews call him "weak" but they clearly missed the point of his upbringing and substance abuse. And my heard sings for Pascal. Such a cutie.

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book started off wonderfully...lagged in the middle..then fell apart at the end...I liked McFarland's style of writing bringing to mind Fitzgerald or one of the old master's I read as a young girl...I like my story to have an ending...I'm not sure this one had an ending...Cookson Selway and his wife, Ellen, travel to London. They book a flat at the hotel Willerton..it's like something out of Masterpiece Theatre they are told. Soon Cookson starts seeing the ghosts.....

[Darlene · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book when it was first published and I remember really liking it and being creeped out by it. I've looked for it at the library over the past several years but wasn't able to find it. I finally bought a copy of it recently and reread it and wasn't nearly as impressed with it as I was ten years ago.

[Lani · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the beat of this book - gothic, but contemporary. The lead character is interesting, and I liked his perspective. The story was set up really well, and I was looking forward to some creepiness - I was in the mood for that - instead it sort of falls apart and leaves more questions than it answers. Unsatisfying.

[Americanogig · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm only giving it one star because after all, it IS readable. I just wouldn't recommend it. What purports to be a horror story is actually another psychodrama psychictrauma tale. Done, done and done. I didn't even get past the second chapter.

[Dixie Meeks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reminded me of "The Shining" but with less horror. There was really not neat ending, but I liked that. Sometimes things just don't have a plausible explanation for why they happened. Good read.

[Ondrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

it was ok. i kept reading it hoping it would get better but, in the middle, it became a jumbled up mess of events that never really came to a conclusion. this book lends itself to being made into a movie but would need some type of alternate definitive ending.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

an interesting ghost story...

[Erin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was one of the worst books I have ever read.

[Britt · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought this book was totally cheesy. Far too similar to "The Shining" but without the spooky setting, depth of character and great writing.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This writer can weave words. This novel is a favorite.

[Marguerite Hargreaves · Rating 1 out of 5]

This bored me. Dennis McFarland does much scene-setting as the expense of storytelling.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book. I love spooky tales and this one seemed as though it would deliver but I was wrong. The main character was boring and weak. Not a spooky story just uneventful.

[Clashton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fairly good suspense, somewhat Straubian, walking the line between the supernatural and the insane.

[Rita · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good writing style. Has its creepy moments. I was expecting more from it.

[Pinkie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just ok

[Anita · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read 5 chapters. It was intriguing, but just not interesting enough to keep me in it. Weird stuff going on and probably there is a reason. I don't find myself caring to find out.

[Deanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This read took me longer than I would have liked, but overall, it was a frustrating read. I felt so bad for Cookson and other times, I thought he was so obnoxious.

[Heather]

Do not recommend this book; kind of wished I hadn't read it. Unreliable narrator in a boring story, causes the death of an innocent, likable character, causes misery to several people, and neither learns nor grows from the experience. Just unsatisfactory overall.