Lily: A Ghost Story

by Adèle Geras

My name is Marie Cotter and I want you to believe me. Every word of this story is true...' 

Seventeen-year-old Marie has had a lot to cope with in her young life. But things are getting better, especially when she gets a job working for the widower Dr Slade, looking after his four-year-old daughter, Amy. At first, her new job seems perfect. Marie loves Amy, and Amy seems to like Marie too. Then things start to change. It seems that not everyone is happy with the new arrangement. There appears to be someone else in the house—someone who is determined to come between Amy and Marie...

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Ghosts, Fiction

Audible Audio

First published March 1, 2007

About the author

Adèle Geras FRSL (born 15 March 1944) is an English writer for young children, teens and adults. Her husband was the Marxist academic Norman Geras and their daughter Sophie Hannah is also a novelist and poet.

Geras was born in Jerusalem, British Mandatory Palestine. Her father was in the Colonial Service and she had a varied childhood, living in countries such as Nigeria, Cyprus, Tanzania, Gambia and British North Borneo in a short span of time. She attended Roedean School in Brighton and then graduated from St Hilda's College, Oxford with a degree in Modern Languages. She was known for her stage and vocal talents, but decided instead to become a full-time writer.

Geras's first book was Tea at Mrs Manderby's, which was published in 1976. Her first full-length novel was The Girls in the Velvet Frame. She has written more than 95 books for children, young adults, and adults. Her best-known books are Troy (shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize and Highly Commended for the Carnegie Medal) Ithaka, Happy Ever After (previously published as the Egerton Hall Trilogy), Silent Snow, Secret Snow, and A Thousand Yards of Sea.

Her novels for adults include: Facing the Light, Hester's Story, Made in Heaven, and A Hidden Life.

Geras won two prizes in the United States, one the Sydney Taylor Book Award for the My Grandmother's Stories and the National Jewish Book Award for Golden Windows. She has also won prizes for her poetry and was a joint winner of the Smith Doorstop Poetry Pamphlet Award, offered by the publisher of that name.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Erica⭐ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lily is a ghost story told by Marie, a young woman who is haunted by two ghosts. The first is the infant Zoe, the baby that she tragically miscarried during her teenage pregnancy. She is not believed, and is treated for a psychological condition.
When she starts a new job looking after the daughter of her psychiatrist, things start to go wrong for her and life becomes increasingly scary. Her charge, Amy, grows to love her but events conspire against her, leading to a terrifying climax to the story.

[Sorcha O'Dowd · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adored this little story! The author really cleverly introduced our main character in a way that gave us a psychological insight into her past and the demons that haunt her. This made a brilliant backstory and increased the tension when we see her forming a relationship with the young girl she is looking after. I always rate horror or ghost stories on a basis of whether or not I feel I can sleep after I've read it. For this reason, as well as the clever storytelling and writing style the author used, this book gets 5 stars from me, as I felt nervous and jumpy when turning my light out, just like you should after reading a good ghost story.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing ending, book didn't reslly finish

[Jeni · Rating 2 out of 5]

A short read with an unfinished ending.

[Nina · Rating 1 out of 5]

It is easy to read, which is perfect for a non-native speaker but the story is unfortunately rather poor. Two not good devoloped stories packed in such a small book. She isn't developing the characters properly and the ending is unsatisfactory.

[Enas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like it so much !! once I started reading this story I could not stop my self for a while .
she touched my heart when she was talking about her miscarriage .I did not like the sad ending and I believe her :)

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly good little read and a terrific ghost story for a chilly night, this novella from the 'Quick Reads' series, will have you checking the shadows for who might be there.

Excellent characterisation too and I enjoyed the main character as she struggled with her own mental health after a miscarriage and her teenage awareness as she tried to make sense of the strange happenings around her.

I'll definitely be reading another story by Adèle Geras, short or long and thanks to my local library for stocking this book and introducing me to her work.

[Caffeine Focus · Rating 3 out of 5]

What is up with that ending???

I was enjoying everything about this until I read that last sentence, turned the page, and found out that that was it. Disappointing for such a short read, but I really enjoyed how the author depicted Marie's mental and psychological struggles over the loss of her baby.

This would've been a 4-star read for me if not for the ending.

I've accepted Dr. Slade's explanation as the actual conclusion to this, chalking up the dreams to her subconscious. But they still don't add up.

Arghhh.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a 'quick read', told in simple language (the narrator's voice is generally convincing) and making artful play with 'The Turn of the Screw' (nanny as governess, a tussle between the nanny and the ghost for the child's soul, wise kindly housekeeper, distant male employer, house in the country, etc.). It sets everything up nicely and would work if adapted for TV, but the finale is somewhat underwhelming.

[Luna☆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Remembered this from years ago. Thought it was a nice quick read and I remember it actually being quite spooky.

[Natty Mart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice Quick Read. Read in a few hours on a Sunday evening by the fire. Cute, spooky and a bit sad.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good short psychological horror read. Marie attempts to get back to normal after a tragic event, but her second chance backfires and Marie is back to grieving a different kind of loss.

[Yvette · Rating 2 out of 5]

no closure, shallow, simplistic

[Tracy Karim · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a hi-lo book, this was enjoyable. I could use it with my adult learners and most would benefit from the experience and have plenty to talk about while reading the book.

[Olivia · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

[Lance Greenfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spooky!

Lily by Adèle Geras is a ghost story told by Marie, a young woman who is haunted by two ghosts. The first is the infant manifestation of Zoe, the baby that she tragically miscarried during her teenage pregnancy. She is not believed, and is treated for a supposed psychological condition.
The reader is sucked into Marie's life and I found myself living the story with her. When she starts a new job looking after the daughter of her psychiatrist, things start to go wrong for her and life becomes increasingly scary. Her charge, Amy, grows to love her but events conspire against her, leading to a terrifying climax to the story and a breathless conclusion.

Lily is a great story, which left me hungry to read more by Adèle Geras.

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story is told from Marie's point of view. Marie is a teenage girl who is haunted by two ghosts in this story. The first ghost is Zoe, the baby that Marie miscarried. Understandably, her psychiatrist doesn't believe her when she says she's seen Zoe, and the doctor basically tells her that it's all in her head.
Later on, Marie is offered a job as a nanny to look after her psychiatrist's daughter, Amy. This is where things start to get quite spooky. Amy is convinced that her dead mum speaks to her through an old mobile phone.

I enjoyed this story, I just wish it had been longer. It was a very quick read, and although you do get sucked in to the story, the ending seemed to lack something.

[Marianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

An odd, but not unpleasant read. It's only 128 pages, so it didn't take long to read, but I came away feeling a little empty, which may have neen partly due to the length of the book not allowing a deep involvement in the story and characters as is usually expected.

However, I never managed to decide if the book was badly written or if I simply didn't get the mindset of the seemingly less-than-average intelligence 16 year old narrating the story. The language was very basic and just didn't feel 'right' somehow, to me.

All in all, it made a reasonable time-filler, but I wouldn't make a point of reading anything else by the same author.

[Aileen · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit of a nothing-ness about this book. I don't think it was really long enough to get a story going, and then it was over and I was left wondering why I'd bothered. Filled a couple of hours, I suppose.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a simple, quick little read that someone had loaned me. I enjoyed it but would like it to have been longer, perhaps more of a full blown novel. The shortness of the story meant that the characters were not developed much. The ending was rather disappointing.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another Quick Read- easy to get through with all the extra buses I'm having to catch. I finished this one sat in the park. It's a ghost story- and I enjoyed her style. I have another two of her books on the shelves and look forward to getting to them.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the books in the Quick Reads range.
Beautifully written, a book that captures and holds the reader.

Not a horror ghost story but a charming recollection of motherhood after ones' passing.

Worth the read. Note to self [must check out more from this writer]

[Anita · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story engrossed me but was disappointed with the ending.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed it, but the ending was a little disappointing.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good quick read.

[Hazerambce · Rating 5 out of 5]

The start to my horror adventure was here. absolutely amazing !

[Kate Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed. One of my "Read 50 books in my 50th year" .