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Witch's Fire
When firelight reflects in a windowpane, they call it witch's fire. There may be some truth in those words.
Kirsty Hamilton has had to except a lot of hardship—life in a wheelchair, her father's new wife, and moving far from anything familiar. As if that's not bad enough, her bratty stepsister, Pam, is convinced that a witch is trying to take possession of their house. Kirsty thinks Pam is crazy—until the living room window reflects a door that doesn't exist, the cat hisses at things that aren't there, and Pam's boundless energy begins to drain away.
As Pam gets weaker, Kirsty begins to realize the danger they're in, and suddenly their fate depends on whether Kirsty can resist the pull of another world—or whether she even wants to.
Kirsty Hamilton has had to except a lot of hardship—life in a wheelchair, her father's new wife, and moving far from anything familiar. As if that's not bad enough, her bratty stepsister, Pam, is convinced that a witch is trying to take possession of their house. Kirsty thinks Pam is crazy—until the living room window reflects a door that doesn't exist, the cat hisses at things that aren't there, and Pam's boundless energy begins to drain away.
As Pam gets weaker, Kirsty begins to realize the danger they're in, and suddenly their fate depends on whether Kirsty can resist the pull of another world—or whether she even wants to.
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
45 people want to read
About the author
Beverly Butler
21 books21 followersAlso known as
Beverly K. Olsen
Was married to Theodore Victor Olsen
Beverly was a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and a long time resident of Rhinelander. Beverly had planned to be an artist, but an impending blindness impelled her to learn typing in order to rejoin her high school class. For practice, she began typing remembered stories which led to her inventing stories.
In 1954, she graduated cum laude from Mount Mary College in Milwaukee where she wrote her first young novel, Song of the Voyager which later won Dodd Mead's
Seventeenth Summer Literary Competition. Beverly earned her M.A. Degree from Marquette University in 1961 and she returned to Mount Mary in 1962 to teach writing there until 1974. Beverly moved to Sun Prairie before marrying fellow Wisconsin author, Theodore Victor (T.V.) Olsen, and moving to Rhinelander in 1976. T V Olsen died in 1993 and she continued to live
in Rhinelander till her death in 2007 at the age of 75. She is survived by her niece and nephews. Her novel "Light a Single Candle" was based on her own experiences with blindness. The sequel was "Gift of Gold". She used her other senses and her brilliant imagination to create her vivid stories which are still enjoyed by her loyal readers today.
Sources
http://www.memorialsolutions.com/site...
http://underalilacbush.blogspot.in/20...
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid...
Beverly K. Olsen
Was married to Theodore Victor Olsen
Beverly was a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and a long time resident of Rhinelander. Beverly had planned to be an artist, but an impending blindness impelled her to learn typing in order to rejoin her high school class. For practice, she began typing remembered stories which led to her inventing stories.
In 1954, she graduated cum laude from Mount Mary College in Milwaukee where she wrote her first young novel, Song of the Voyager which later won Dodd Mead's
Seventeenth Summer Literary Competition. Beverly earned her M.A. Degree from Marquette University in 1961 and she returned to Mount Mary in 1962 to teach writing there until 1974. Beverly moved to Sun Prairie before marrying fellow Wisconsin author, Theodore Victor (T.V.) Olsen, and moving to Rhinelander in 1976. T V Olsen died in 1993 and she continued to live
in Rhinelander till her death in 2007 at the age of 75. She is survived by her niece and nephews. Her novel "Light a Single Candle" was based on her own experiences with blindness. The sequel was "Gift of Gold". She used her other senses and her brilliant imagination to create her vivid stories which are still enjoyed by her loyal readers today.
Sources
http://www.memorialsolutions.com/site...
http://underalilacbush.blogspot.in/20...
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid...
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 18, 2013
Summary: After losing her mother, sister, and ability to walk in a car crash, thirteen-year-old Kirsty moves to Wisconsin and has to figure out how to deal with her new stepmother, stepsister, and the insane witch who's haunting their house and possibly trying to kill her.
Review: This is a solid "there's-a-witch-haunting-my-house-and-trying-to-kill-me" story. I liked the characterization of Kirsty's struggles to adjust to a new family and the loss of her old family; the fact that Kirsty, the main character, has a disability; and the way the indications of witchery wove together. The story is pleasantly creepy and good for winter time, as the story takes place just a few days before Thanksgiving and features several snowstorms.
It wasn't until after I finished the book that I realized that this is the same author who wrote Ghost Cat , a similarly strong ghost story featuring a Wisconsin girl with troubled family dynamics.
I don't think this book will change anyone's life drastically, but it's a solid ghostly YA novel.
Weird Trivia: The book is dedicated to Betty Ren Wright (Frederiksen), the author of The Dollhouse Murders.
Stars: Four! Good book.
Review: This is a solid "there's-a-witch-haunting-my-house-and-trying-to-kill-me" story. I liked the characterization of Kirsty's struggles to adjust to a new family and the loss of her old family; the fact that Kirsty, the main character, has a disability; and the way the indications of witchery wove together. The story is pleasantly creepy and good for winter time, as the story takes place just a few days before Thanksgiving and features several snowstorms.
It wasn't until after I finished the book that I realized that this is the same author who wrote Ghost Cat , a similarly strong ghost story featuring a Wisconsin girl with troubled family dynamics.
I don't think this book will change anyone's life drastically, but it's a solid ghostly YA novel.
Weird Trivia: The book is dedicated to Betty Ren Wright (Frederiksen), the author of The Dollhouse Murders.
Stars: Four! Good book.
November 19, 2009
This has a fair amount of teen angst,a new step family and a newly handicaped girl who is in greif for loss of her mom and mobility.
But I liked it.
But I liked it.
September 28, 2020
Witch’s Fire, written by Beverly Butler, is a very unique and spellbinding story that contains the secret ingredient to keep you reading. In this book, a young teenage girl named Kirsty lives with her father, stepmother, and younger stepsister, since her own mother and older sister died in an accident that caused Kirsty to be in a wheelchair. But, through all of the hard times, misery, and anger existing in her life, Kirsty experiences something she never could have predicted. An odd appearance of witchcraft brings her closer to her stepsister and stepmother as she works hard to make sure her family’s lives are safe from something really evil. Beverly Butler does a great job mixing fiction and reality within this book, the combination of witchcraft and reality problems makes this book so much more interesting. The author also does a great job with making the scenes seem so real in the book. Using powerful and descriptive language, the author is able to create moods that bring the events in the book to life and allow readers to feel what’s going on themselves. The author also does a really good job making a lot of the events in the book not obvious. No reader could ever guess that evil magic would come into a world full of complicated reality issues, and the author brings this appearance of the evil magic in a strange and secretive manner, which shocks and interests readers. And as the author brings in two different worlds for the main character to deal with, the readers are also pulled into these two worlds, allowing them to also feel that they have to deal with the situations going on in the worlds. This helps to bring a great amount of interest within readers, and keeps their eyes stuck to the pages. Without a doubt, Beverly Butler is able to create a distinctive attention grabbing story using powerful and descriptive language as well as a strange appearance of two different worlds, and this story is one that no reader can ever forget.
July 13, 2024
Kirsty has lost her mom and sister in a car crash and two years later she finds herself living with her father, new stepmother and stepsister. The house they’ve all moved into is haunted by an old witch according to the neighborhood kids. I found this one very cozy and spooky- exactly what I want in my 90s middle grade.
January 12, 2019
The subject material of the book was good and it was an interesting story. However, it could be scarier. The witch who gave her name to the title could have been described in more details.
The story was not so much complicated and short enough to keep you focused.
After all, I liked it and recommend it for those who love reading "soft" horror books like this.
The story was not so much complicated and short enough to keep you focused.
After all, I liked it and recommend it for those who love reading "soft" horror books like this.
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December 30, 2020Cross-posted from my blog where there's more information on where I got my copy and links and everything.
Well, here's another surprise! I read this about a million or two times as a kid, and I was surprised to see how well it had aged. This is a small book about strange things that go on in a new house that was said to be owned by a witch. And also has a disabled main character who has recently lost her mother and older sister dealing with adjusting to living in a new place with her father and new step-family after spending two years living with her grandmother. It's a surprisingly deep book for how short it is, and I really appreciate that.
Other than some slightly dated technology (I'm not sure kids today know what a tape deck is, honestly), this still works very well. The emotional aspects are given the depth they need, a great feat considering the length of the book. The characters bond and grow, and it feels emotionally satisfying. It's a great book to read about this time of the year since it's set in November and has a lot of talk about cold and snow, and because it's creepy - great for those who want to keep the Halloween scares going just a little longer.
I also think the representation of the issues it tackles is very, very good. The book really captures the awkwardness of a new family and of people who have been separated for a while and are getting to know each other again. I thought it handled Kirsty grieving for her mother and sister and finding closure, especially since it had been two years since their deaths. And, especially important, I think, I found how the book treated Kirsty's disability very, very good. She has times when she gets frustrated in general, but she also talks about how much she loves how her wheelchair gives her control and Independence.
The "about the author" at the back of the book says that the author lost her sight at the age of fourteen, and while it's obviously not the same thing, it does feel like the author knows what it's like to want a story where a character who is like you gets to be bold and brave and not in an "inspirational" way but in a "fight off an evil witch" way. I believe this is the last book the author published, and that really seems to be a shame. I would have been really interested in seeing what else she could do.
Honestly, besides the small about of datedness with technology and occasionally the language (there's one particular use of "queer" to mean strange or unusual, but it's obviously meant in a harmless way), I seriously would have no problems recommending this. It's not perfect, but I think it was written with care and sensitivity, and I quite enjoyed it. This one gets to keep its place on my shelf.
Well, here's another surprise! I read this about a million or two times as a kid, and I was surprised to see how well it had aged. This is a small book about strange things that go on in a new house that was said to be owned by a witch. And also has a disabled main character who has recently lost her mother and older sister dealing with adjusting to living in a new place with her father and new step-family after spending two years living with her grandmother. It's a surprisingly deep book for how short it is, and I really appreciate that.
Other than some slightly dated technology (I'm not sure kids today know what a tape deck is, honestly), this still works very well. The emotional aspects are given the depth they need, a great feat considering the length of the book. The characters bond and grow, and it feels emotionally satisfying. It's a great book to read about this time of the year since it's set in November and has a lot of talk about cold and snow, and because it's creepy - great for those who want to keep the Halloween scares going just a little longer.
I also think the representation of the issues it tackles is very, very good. The book really captures the awkwardness of a new family and of people who have been separated for a while and are getting to know each other again. I thought it handled Kirsty grieving for her mother and sister and finding closure, especially since it had been two years since their deaths. And, especially important, I think, I found how the book treated Kirsty's disability very, very good. She has times when she gets frustrated in general, but she also talks about how much she loves how her wheelchair gives her control and Independence.
The "about the author" at the back of the book says that the author lost her sight at the age of fourteen, and while it's obviously not the same thing, it does feel like the author knows what it's like to want a story where a character who is like you gets to be bold and brave and not in an "inspirational" way but in a "fight off an evil witch" way. I believe this is the last book the author published, and that really seems to be a shame. I would have been really interested in seeing what else she could do.
Honestly, besides the small about of datedness with technology and occasionally the language (there's one particular use of "queer" to mean strange or unusual, but it's obviously meant in a harmless way), I seriously would have no problems recommending this. It's not perfect, but I think it was written with care and sensitivity, and I quite enjoyed it. This one gets to keep its place on my shelf.
December 5, 2010
It was a bit scary becuase I read it at night but the end was so sweet!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews