The House in the Woods: A Novel

by Isabelle Holland

Feeling overweight, unattractive, and unloved by her adoptive father, Bridget learns to put aside her escapist fantasies and live in the real world after uncovering the secrets of a mysterious house

Genres: Young Adult, Childrens, Mystery

194 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Isabelle Christian Holland (born June 16, 1920 in Basel, Switzerland — died February 9, 2002) was an author of children and adult fiction. Her father was the American Consul in Liverpool, England during WWII. She moved to America in 1940 due to the war. She wrote Gothic novels, adult mysteries, romantic thrillers, and many books for children and young adults. She wrote over 50 books in her lifetime, and was still working at the time of her death at age 81 in New York City.

Two of her novels have been made into movies:

Bump in the Night, 1991,
The Man Without a Face, 1993

Both of these novels deal with issues or allegations of pedophilia.

Reviews

[Christine Mathieu · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of Holland's later books.
A lovely coming of age story about a young girl who was adopted and meets her biological father.
I can't relate to the many negative reviews.
Holland's writing style is compelling and never boring.
I can highly recommend it to teenagers as well as adults.

[Elizabeth Gibbs · Rating 3 out of 5]

I kept waiting for this book to get interesting but the plot was very thin. It's about an adopted girl who is struggling to fit in with her adoptive family, even though she's grown up with them. I was much more interested in why her little brother didn't speak for years, or what kind of ghosts or secrets were in the strange house in the woods. There were do many pieces that could have been developed but they weren't the "real" story so they all just faded away into nothing. It was very disappointing. I'm not even sure preteen girls, who I assume were the target audience, would enjoy this.

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The character development in this book was good. Mother simplistic language was a good choice considering the character who was narrating it. I felt that the ending was abrupt. It was just too easy. It felt like the writer got tired of the story and looked for an easy way out.

[Li · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would probably have liked this better had I read this as a kid, but it reads a bit too young for me - quick and feel-good read though.