Essence: This Child Ghost Wants To Tell You Her Story

by Glenn Woods

Savannah, Georgia, from the Civil War to present times, is the backdrop for this most unusual account.

257 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2005

Reviews

[Tina Ferris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this unusual perspective of a ghost story. I also loved the era's of the book. I loved the story and highly recommend!

[J. Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book some years ago and it still lingers. A ghost story from the ghosts point of view. I loved everything about this book with one exception: the ghost has an annoying habit of asking the reader 'have I scared you?' Either I'm unsettled or I'm not, the cattleprodding was unnecessary. Other than that, this story is more intriguing than scary. A little girl in pre-Civil war time gets shot by a stray bullet in a street shooting. She stumbles into her neighbor's basement and dies. Her body is not discovered. Time moves on and she is trapped in that house as a ghost. Various people move in and move out and she has compelling interactions with the living. All the while, she wants to find her mother. Nicely-detailed, an easy read. I finished the book fairly convinced it was a true story told by a ghost.

[Karen Hapli · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very unusual ghost story. While it did read as somewhat of a collection of short stories, little moments in this ghost's timeline, and it did not move through a storyline as we would typically expect, I found that to be a huge part of its charm. Isn't that how our own personal stories unfold? We have smaller tales, some connected, some not so much, that weave together to form the bigger picture of our own lives. I really came to care for this girl and the people with whom she shared "life." I was so immersed in the story that I literally didn't put it down until I was done.

[Kathleen Guler · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this is a nice, evenly paced read, I was hoping for it to grow more compelling as it went along. Each chapter is like a self-contained short story, all with a similar tone. Each tells an episode in the 'haunting' time of a little girl called Luzette who died during the Civil War. Admittedly, I skipped a few chapters in the last third of the book and moved on to the end because I was getting tired of so much of it being the same. A few scenes in the early chapters, however, had some quite moving moments, but the storytelling didn't build in a way to keep the reader fully engaged.

[Wendy Kurtz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have an autographed copy the author gave my parents to give me. Glenn Woods grew up on Sanibel and Captiva islands here in Florida (where we just had our Community Leadership Conference in January). At first, I thought I was just interested b/c of the Florida connection and the autograph thing, but it really is a good book. It's a page turner. The author knows how to weave a story to keep you guessing.

[John Zenoni · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed emotions about this book. As someone else commented in their review, each chapter was like its own story. Some I thoroughly enjoyed and others not so much. I do appreciate the concept but it was not scary to me as much as it was sad that this child died so young and had to wander around so many years.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I usually love stories about Ghosts and the Civil War, but not this one. It was just really hard to stay interested in. I don't know if it was the pacing or plot or even the way the writer wrote it. Maybe it was all three of those things..

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this book a few times. I love the perspective from the ghost. I also love reading about towns that I've lived in or visited. Savannah, GA is a very interesting town.

[Ken Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Got bored halfway through it. Put it down, picked it up, over and over. Finally got through it

[Rebecca Keller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly spooky & entertaining! A very different kind of ghost story!