When Midnight Comes

by Carol Beach York

Cousin Wilma is peculiar; she is heavy and oafish, and when she comes to the Bridgeport family for a nice visit everything seems to go wrong. It begins with a clock that makes noise when it never had before. Then there are Mrs. Bridgeport's restless nights, Joan's school trouble, and Emily's fear of sleeping. It all seems to begin when Wilma arrives, but can she be the reason for all these strange happenings? The Bridgeport family will only find out WHEN MIDNIGHT COMES.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Childrens, Young Adult

138 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

Reviews

[Qt · Rating 4 out of 5]

It wasn't a good idea to finish this one late at night! It turned out to be quite scary (for me, anyway). It is atmospheric, and well-written, and the creepiness builds slowly. It's probably one of the best/scariest books I've read this Halloween season, and while I don't always enjoy the scares, I liked this one (at least, by the light of day I do!) ;-)

[Nattie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scary. Creepy. Dreary. Another CBY tale with stunning imagery. I live for her weather descriptions of fall and winter!

I felt sorry for Wilma. The girl was shy and just couldn't fit in with the beautiful Bridgeport family and Joan's friends. She was fat, we are told she was fat numerous times. She wore glasses and you couldn't see her expression, this was a popular theme in the story.

Did anybody ever just consider the fact that poor Wilma was just shy and lonely and awkward, and just wanted to belong?

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very quiet horror novel about a widowed mother and her 3 perfect children who live in a beautiful house. They invite their cousin to stay for a while out of pity. She is odd and detached from the family, and soon after she arrives small things start happening and the family eventually comes to believe she is the cause.

***Spoilers***

The ending was ambiguous and usually I don't mind that, but there were no explanations given for why anything happened in this house or what was in the house other than "bad spirits". Would have loved a bit more of a reveal.

[Sharon Farmer Hendrickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book every March :-)
It never gets old!

[Madame Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delicious slow-burner.

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's probably my third time reading this book since it turned up mysteriously in my house. Perfect, creepy little book.

[Ciara · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lot of slow build up to a whole lotta nothing.

[Grace Chan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poor Wilma. This character can't catch a fuggin' break. All throughout the book, she is referred to as variously awful things such as "poor, homely, dowdy, dumpy, listless, clumsy and blinking, dull looking with dingy hair, lonely, unattractive, creepy, and lurking around" 🤣🤣🤣

So the picture-perfect Bridgeport family with their lovely old home and beautiful mom and happy children invite their cousin Wilma for an extended visit, after Mrs. Bridgeport hears that she is having trouble at home. Almost as soon as Wilma arrives, everything seems to go wrong...mom is having intense headaches and restless nights. Emily the youngest starts becoming scared of the dark. The old grandfather clock starts ticking away when it has been broken for many years. OH and a friend of the maid who is a psychic starts refusing to come in the house, claiming it is evil and telling everyone to GTFO. It MUST be that clumsy oaf Wilma's fault!!!

The reader is set up to feel contempt for Wilma from the get go...so is it really her who's causing all these weird things to happen?

Not my favorite Carol Beach York book but she is the queen of the mood...I live for her descriptions of Fall and Winter, and the desolation and bleakness inherent in her writing.

SPOILER-EY TALK ABOUT THE ENDING BELOW:
The ending irked me. I'll be blunt. The ending is ambiguous and unsatisfying. I wish there had been more to be gained, but if you've read it, perhaps you can enlighten me 😅

[Bridgette Simpson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a book I picked out of a Little Free Library. Didn’t realize it was a young adult book, but it was interesting to compare the sentence structure and verb choice in this book to some other stuff I’ve read recently. It was a good reminder that blunt, short sentences and direct, explicative word choice are necessary and don’t have to be boring. This book could be a good lesson in timing while writing, especially for younger kids learning to write creatively: it convincingly shifts pacing within the story a couple separate times, something difficult to do in shorter, simpler children’s chapter books since the sentences are shorter.
That being said this was fun to read!

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did a book report on this in the early 90s and reread it to see how it held up. I was pleasantly surprised. Slightly dated, yes, but not terribly so. Fat-phobic, of course. But the atmosphere created by the author with just a few sentences is fantastic. Eerie and unsettling and yet so spot-on.... March is dreary and I want to be IN the warm living room with the characters, sheltered against the rain and wind. A quick read.

[Patricia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a "ghost story." I read it to see if I should keep it in my library. The book is dated, and it doesn't really send a good message. The problems weren't solved, and it left me dissatisfied. The characters did not grow.

[Evelyn Fernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great, old fashion creepy story. It was a quick read and very enjoyable.

[C. (Don't blank click my reviews, comment please! · Rating 3 out of 5]

“When Midnight Comes” is my least favourite. I recall hesitating to give three stars. I nonetheless love Carol Beach York. With exception of “The Secret”, her modus operandi is to make readers question whether or not events were mystical. She never throws the door open on any perceived monster. We don’t see any sinister perpetrators. This time, there is malevolence and it is measurable. The paradox is that this novel, darker than usual, with potential for a frightening house history or purpose to the torment; leaves us more uncertain of the muddled premise than ever. I am especially irritated that a cat went missing and since this is fiction, that Carol didn’t retrieve her; unless the cat preferred leaving the place!

Mrs. Bridgeport is a single Mother of Joan & Emily. They are uncomfortable with Wilma but their Aunt asks that she spend time with them. She has clearly been depressed and her Mom hopes she will be uplifted and inspired by her self-confident, sociable cousins. This tale is certainly comprised of subtexts, commenting on the inadvisability of hasty conclusions no matter how things look. It’s also a frustrating stalemate that the Bridgeports are ill at ease with Wilma, who is expressionless and unmotivated; as much as her discomfort correlates to their prettiness and lightness. She doesn’t believe their inclusion of her is genuine and they tire of her unreceptive dreariness.

I found this story miserable and unkind. It was sad that Wilma had been improving in their time of need. My conclusion is that the house’s daunting atmosphere was unrelated to her. They entertained the bizarre notion that she could be a catalyst to their anxiety, fatigue, illness, and household mishaps. How maddening that their housekeeper, with a psychically-sensitive friend, neither enlightened them nor readers; merely quitting and leaving.

[Luan On · Rating 3 out of 5]

An unsettling read, this is a short book but oozes with menace throughout. The Bridgeport family is affluent and well to do, with constant descriptions of the stylishly decorated house. All goes well till the mother takes on her niece Wilma as a charity case. From the moment Wilma is introduced, the author almost invites you to loathe her ... or patronise her as seen through the eyes of the mother. Wilma's stunted awkwardness, almost certainly stemming from deep self depression, puts the family on edge. Things are escalated as a series of strange events occur in the house which the family naturally attribute to the outsider.
The author's written expression is simple to read, non challenging, and there are times when it seems she is satirising the middle class guilt of the neurotic Bridgeport mother who seems fraught with tension from the get-go, on how to handle her niece who she clearly patronises with her affluence: dressing her in new clothes, throwing an awkward getting-to-know you party.

[R · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's something fascinating about reading the "modern" books of other eras. They're like time capsules. What was life really like in the 1970's? What did people value and consider the norm? What's changed and what's, surprisingly, stayed the same? Such questions were the reason I was initially intrigued by "When Midnight Comes," an eerie novel that is not for the faint of heart.

If you enjoy suspenseful horror tales with bleak atmospheres and characters who won't listen when you're mentally screaming at them to get out of there, then you'll probably enjoy this novel.

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of horror and, while I enjoyed York's ability fill her readers with dread, I'd much rather read a book where the focus is on the characters instead of the atmosphere.

[Sharon Farmer Hendrickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book every March :-)
The author's name needs to be corrected!
Carol B. York is her name.

[Ian U · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was good

[Stephanie Winters · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good quick read. I honestly enjoyed it as much as I did as a preteen!