Ghost at the Window

by Margaret McAllister

A mystery story about a ghost trapped in a house which slips in and out of different periods in history. The ghost appeals to the boy who lives in the house for his help to release her spirit from the house.

Exciting mystery/ghost story which keeps the reader gripped.
Margaret McAllister's third novel for OUP - her first two books A Friend for Rachel and Hold My Hand and Run were very well reviewed.
Unusual angle on time slip - it's the house that time-travels.
Margaret McAllister lives in North Yorkshire.

Genres: Childrens, Fantasy, Fiction

92 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Also writes as:
M.I. McAllister
Margi McAllister
Poppy Harris

Reviews

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite compelling – kept me up too late till I finished it. Children's book but really pretty scarey. Satisfying ending.

[Kristina Brooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the concept in this book and the deeper theme of how emotions can imprison a person and create a timeless personal hell. It's slow moving, not a suspense book or thriller. People expecting adventure or excitement will most likely be disappointed, but I found it engaging none the less. I love the house out of time setting and wish we could see more of it. I hadn't even seen a setting quite like it before.

[Carol Aldred · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant concept of a time shifting house. If anything the book was too short, there was so many ideas that could of been taken further, Wonderful cast of characters.

[Erin Schuett · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't really like this book at all. It was very slow moving and nothing exciting happened. You kept waiting and waiting for something to knock you off your feet, but nothing even remotely intense happened. When I got this book I was very excited to read it because the description made it seem so scary and mysterious. Then, when I read it I was thoroughly bored and I just wanted to put it down and read a new book. It was also a little confusing. One of the reasons it was so confusing was because it took place in an older England or Scotland. They used a lot of terms more familiar to those languages so I always had to use the context clues so I could figure out what was going on. Another reason it was confusing was because they say that the house switches time periods frequently. I don’t understand this because the characters weren’t confused or surprised by this in the least. They actually seemed to enjoy it. Something else that would scare me and freak me out quite a bit was that boy in the book met a ghost who lived in his room and had been watching him for a while. This only slightly fazed him and that was only because a girl had seen him changing. If this was happening to me that part wouldn’t even freak me out in proportion to all the other things going on! These are just a few reasons that I didn’t enjoy this book.

I didn’t find that I could relate to any of these characters. I don’t know why this is. There were two boys in it around my age and they only played games that small children would play. They played with a remote controlled toy truck! I haven’t played with one of those since I went to daycare! The only slightly fun game they played was pool. I still can’t relate to them on this because I hate pool! They called it something different so I didn’t know they were playing pool until they went into a description of the game. I’m still not positive that’s the game they were playing. There were only two things that I could relate to any of these people on. One of those things is when the Ewan, the main character, went on a bike ride to church. I can slightly relate to this because in the summer my mom forces me to bike everywhere because it’s so nice out. The other thing is when he began to walk home from his friend’s house in the rain because his mom was not home yet. I have actually been the almost exact situation. My mother was out of town for the weekend so I got bored and went to my friend’s house. It was pouring rain but I had to get home right then and my friend’s mom wasn’t home! So I walked all the way home and got soaking wet. This is why I don’t feel I relate to any of these characters.

I personally don't suggest that anyone should read this book, but that is just my personal opinion.

[Tori De · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had an interesting concept, and an entertaining cast, but to be honest, I really read it for the house. That factor alone detracted from a high rating, since as I found out the more I read further that really, the house turned out to be a gimmick--which, obviously, is really disappointing. It never had much effect on the story besides connecting Elspeth with the main character. It seemed like a setting that never got explored. It just sat there, adding flavor to the story here and there. Probably the book could have saved the reader from too much disappointment created from the house letdown if it had added something else to the plot. As it stands, the book is more of a relaxing read which actually makes the house's flaw more noticeable--basically, no help from there. Still, I like relaxing reads, so it did help itself in a different area.
What really makes or brakes a book most of the time is the ending. Endings can save most anything, so I was hoping it could compensate. This one did not.
Just.
At all.
I could put up with the house, or whatever else, but the ending was not good in the slightest. To save time, I'll just sum it up by calling it quite absurd. I do not want to go into it.
Anyway, as said before, it was an interesting concept, so I'll go ahead and give it a rating of 3.5 (rounding it to 4). But I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

[Loralee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely little ghost story about a boy named Ewan who discovers a girl's spirit trapped in his time-shifting house. The book broke many ghost story conventions, with no murder victims, no murderer, and parents who saw the time-shifted rooms as well as Ewan did, although Ewan did follow ghost-story tradition and conceal the existence of the ghost from his parents for no clearly explained reason.

While the story moves nicely, my very favorite part was the house itself. The house is always flashing back to scenes from the past, so the family thinks nothing of walking into a kitchen full of Scots warriors, or a Victorian parlor with heavy curtains. In fact, the interior-decorating mother raves about the antique furnishings, and identifies the time period in one room by the pattern on the bedspread. At one point after the dad cooks dinner, Ewan is astonished to find the kitchen clean and sparkling, only to realize with dismay that he's been seeing another time as the cluttered, stained, present kitchen fades into view. I want to live in that house.

[Cynthia Egbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pure Anglophile indulgence and I loved it. I seriously want to find the house described in this book in Scotland and snap it up and live out my days there. This is a quick read and a very sweet story as well as being all about Scotland and ghosts.

[Catherine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave this book 50 pages and it just couldn't suck me in. I didn't care about the characters. The story is too vague and jumps around so much that it is confusing. There are too many good books to read to waste time finishing one like this.

[birar rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love it and it end happyly i would tell other about it who are looking for a good diff ghost story.

[Esther · Rating 4 out of 5]

It isn't as creepy as it looks. It is really really good.