Ein Sommergeist

Timewells #1

by Ruth Tomalin

Reluctant to leave her beloved pony when her family goes on vacation, Arabella manages to stay behind, without her parents' knowledge, but comes to regret her stolen holiday when she begins to suspect there is a ghost in the house.

Genres: Fiction

Perfect Paperback

First published June 9, 1986

About the author

Ruth Tomalin is also the author of The Sea Mice, A Stranger Thing, A Green Wishbone, The Snake Crook, and for older readers, Away to the West and Best Country Stories.

Reviews

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

We loved the way this story started, a girl who doesn't want to go to the south of France for the summer with her siblings, tries to find a way she can go to their country house in Kent to be with her pony. Although we both agreed there were worse problems to have, we enjoyed the ingenious way the author made her get out scheme seem plausible.

I love details of runaway plans and for me this one didn't disappoint and I know I would have loved this story as a child. We both enjoyed the way this character spent time outdoors and appreciated nature, peace and wildlife.

We enjoyed the details of a girl that had lived in the village long ago, the details of things left behind were enjoyable. When we finished my daughter said with indignation that "nothing at all happened in the whole story!" I know what she meant, from the title I did think we might have more of a 'ghost' element to the story, but I see this was a subtle story and maybe of more interest to adults than young adults or children.

3.75 stars

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this to be a lovely gem of a book--I related strongly to the 11-year old main character who didn't want to go off with all her siblings to the hot bright sandy French seaside, but instead wanted to be at the family's country cottage in Sussex, where there is a pony, and peace....so she fiddles the travel arrangements, and since her parents are on a holiday of their own in New Zealand, and she has a bit of luck on her side, it works, and she's secretly living in the cottage alone. She's discovered by the character's son, and start becoming friends, and together they find themselves unravelling the story of a girl who had lived in the same cottage 100 years before, who might, or might not, be haunting a particular bit of local woods....There is no more plot to it than this, but it was a just right book for me!

[Claire Flook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you for your kind words - I always thought my grandmother’s work was better suited to adults and I refused to read it as a child. X