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The Haunting of Lindy Pennyworth
"A psychological horror that will grip you from the first page, and haunt you long after you’ve finished the last.
Nobody believes Lindy when she says she doesn’t pull her out on purpose. Nobody believes Lindy when she says she hears voices in the night. Nobody believes Lindy when she says her dead ancestors are haunting her dreams. Nobody believes Lindy …"
Nobody believes Lindy when she says she doesn’t pull her out on purpose. Nobody believes Lindy when she says she hears voices in the night. Nobody believes Lindy when she says her dead ancestors are haunting her dreams. Nobody believes Lindy …"
233 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 13, 2021
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55 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
September 26, 2021
The Haunting of Lindy Pennyworth kicks off with Lindy frantically writing in a diary. She has just been committed for psychiatric assessment and she wants to get her story on paper before she has to take medication that will make her forget all about everything that’s happened to her.
Lindy’s story starts with her dad dying in a car accident. The last words she spoke to him were to tell him she hated him, which makes his death even harder to process, her massive guilt preventing her from even trying to move on. Desperately, she tries to contact him through Ouija boards and paranormal rituals, if only she could speak to him just one last time, if only she were able to make things right. However, when she does manage to make contact, it’s not with her dad but with a seventeen-year-old girl named Esmerelda, who tells her she’s Lindy’s ancestor and sets her on a path to break the curse that was cast over the Pennyworth family. Outwardly, Lindy is behaving stranger and stranger. Why is she rooting around graveyards, why is hurting herself? Her mum and her friends are worried sick.
The Haunting of Lindy Pennyworth starts out a ghost story. I started reading it late at night, and it freaked me out so much I knew I had to put it down if I ever wanted to sleep again. It had a The Haunting of Hill House effect on me, with me peering into the shadows to make sure nothing moved. However, as the story progresses, it also becomes an adventure story, a mystery and even a drama, with Lindy trying to figure out what happened to her ancestors while also unravelling her dad’s secrets. It’s a nice genre mash-up for readers who like their thrills and chills in moderation.
Inextricably woven into the story are themes of grief, mental health and self-harm, which I thought were tackled in a respectful and sensitive manner. I really love it when a story has a paranormal angle and you’re never really sure what’s real and what’s not while you’re reading it. Lindy’s story seems real enough, but if she’s suffering from psychosis then of course it would seem real to her, and by extension to us, the reader, as we are seeing the events unroll from her perspective. S.M. Pope successfully makes us wait for it until the very last chapter.
I had a great time with The Haunting of Lindy Pennyworth. I think it’s a great fit for actual young adults and since I am not a young adult and have not been for a while now I can tell you it’s very enjoyable for a more mature audience as well.
Thanks to Graeme Williams and UCLAN Publishing for the eARC. All opinions are my own.
Lindy’s story starts with her dad dying in a car accident. The last words she spoke to him were to tell him she hated him, which makes his death even harder to process, her massive guilt preventing her from even trying to move on. Desperately, she tries to contact him through Ouija boards and paranormal rituals, if only she could speak to him just one last time, if only she were able to make things right. However, when she does manage to make contact, it’s not with her dad but with a seventeen-year-old girl named Esmerelda, who tells her she’s Lindy’s ancestor and sets her on a path to break the curse that was cast over the Pennyworth family. Outwardly, Lindy is behaving stranger and stranger. Why is she rooting around graveyards, why is hurting herself? Her mum and her friends are worried sick.
The Haunting of Lindy Pennyworth starts out a ghost story. I started reading it late at night, and it freaked me out so much I knew I had to put it down if I ever wanted to sleep again. It had a The Haunting of Hill House effect on me, with me peering into the shadows to make sure nothing moved. However, as the story progresses, it also becomes an adventure story, a mystery and even a drama, with Lindy trying to figure out what happened to her ancestors while also unravelling her dad’s secrets. It’s a nice genre mash-up for readers who like their thrills and chills in moderation.
Inextricably woven into the story are themes of grief, mental health and self-harm, which I thought were tackled in a respectful and sensitive manner. I really love it when a story has a paranormal angle and you’re never really sure what’s real and what’s not while you’re reading it. Lindy’s story seems real enough, but if she’s suffering from psychosis then of course it would seem real to her, and by extension to us, the reader, as we are seeing the events unroll from her perspective. S.M. Pope successfully makes us wait for it until the very last chapter.
I had a great time with The Haunting of Lindy Pennyworth. I think it’s a great fit for actual young adults and since I am not a young adult and have not been for a while now I can tell you it’s very enjoyable for a more mature audience as well.
Thanks to Graeme Williams and UCLAN Publishing for the eARC. All opinions are my own.
March 19, 2022
A gripping psychological ghost story carefully woven with themes of grief and mental health struggles.
After the sudden death of her father, Lindy is consumed with regret because of the final angry words she said to him on the day he died.
Drowning in grief, Lindy begins to deliberately pull out her own hair in order me to cope. In an attempt to make contact with her father, she attends a spiritualist church. Soon after she receives a visit from Esme, a ghost who claims to be one of her ancestors.
Esme explains that a family curse is stopping Lindy from making contact with her father and the further she digs, the more her worrying behaviour spirals.
This chilling page turner will have you questioning the story long after you inhale the final chapter. It explores the issues surrounding grief and as Lindy tells the story from her own point of view, you never quite know if her version of events is reliable.
After the sudden death of her father, Lindy is consumed with regret because of the final angry words she said to him on the day he died.
Drowning in grief, Lindy begins to deliberately pull out her own hair in order me to cope. In an attempt to make contact with her father, she attends a spiritualist church. Soon after she receives a visit from Esme, a ghost who claims to be one of her ancestors.
Esme explains that a family curse is stopping Lindy from making contact with her father and the further she digs, the more her worrying behaviour spirals.
This chilling page turner will have you questioning the story long after you inhale the final chapter. It explores the issues surrounding grief and as Lindy tells the story from her own point of view, you never quite know if her version of events is reliable.
October 28, 2021
This book has such a fantastic start - "I am sane. I can speak to the dead. And they can speak to me." It really sets it up well and gets you hooked on what's to come. Lindy's story is so fantastical that almost no one believes her, least of all her mum. But can she trust the one person who actually does seem to believe? And can she trust the ghosts? Even as the reader, you find yourself wondering what is true. This was a perfect book for this time of year with all the creepy ghosts and the ending actually left me gasping!
November 5, 2022
The epilogue saved this book. I believe apart from one moment (Lindy questions how the house got back into the family if Charles moved away) the ending wasn’t very planned. It seemed like the author just went “oh she woke up it was all a dream the end”. The plot had the potential to be better but it’s almost like no planning and structure were awarded it was just written on a whim
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 29, 2021
First reviewed on my blog, Pretty Little Memoirs.
Now, I’m not usually a fan of anything ghost-related (I can read/watch most horror genres except for things overly supernatural with ghosts/spirits) but when I began to read Lindy’s story, something – despite it’s eeriness – grabbed me by the hand and pulled me inside the pages. The story actually starts at the ending (a great tactic that I loved) with Lindy in a hospital, hurriedly trying to write down everything that has happened to her before she’s admitted and made to forget everything – everything being that her dad recently died, and her life unravelled from there.
Lindy left things on terrible terms with her father, and in an attempt to patch things up, she tries to contact him via a Ouija board (terrible idea if you ask me) and in a few other spiritual ways. But instead of getting in touch with him, she finds someone else, someone that says they are also related to Lindy, and that her family has a curse over it, something she’ll help Lindy break. But things begin to get dark, with Lindy’s family worrying about her newfound behaviour, her actions toward herself and others, not to mention where and what she’s getting up to in places she shouldn’t be. Only, the more Lindy digs into her families secrets, the more she can’t let go of what she has to uncover, even if it takes everything.
Overall, The Haunting of Lindy Pennyworth is one firecracker of a novel. Not only did it have the major creepy-factor, addictive characters and twists I didn’t see coming, but it was the perfect length for a short but spooky tale that is perfect for Halloween nights and little frights. I did find parts I didn’t enjoy as much as others, but as a whole package, the book was such an amazing read. It definitely isn’t a book I’d read alone in the house or late at night (big mistake there) but it’s perfect for those fans of YA horror with a killer psychological thriller aspect. Four beloved stars!
Now, I’m not usually a fan of anything ghost-related (I can read/watch most horror genres except for things overly supernatural with ghosts/spirits) but when I began to read Lindy’s story, something – despite it’s eeriness – grabbed me by the hand and pulled me inside the pages. The story actually starts at the ending (a great tactic that I loved) with Lindy in a hospital, hurriedly trying to write down everything that has happened to her before she’s admitted and made to forget everything – everything being that her dad recently died, and her life unravelled from there.
Lindy left things on terrible terms with her father, and in an attempt to patch things up, she tries to contact him via a Ouija board (terrible idea if you ask me) and in a few other spiritual ways. But instead of getting in touch with him, she finds someone else, someone that says they are also related to Lindy, and that her family has a curse over it, something she’ll help Lindy break. But things begin to get dark, with Lindy’s family worrying about her newfound behaviour, her actions toward herself and others, not to mention where and what she’s getting up to in places she shouldn’t be. Only, the more Lindy digs into her families secrets, the more she can’t let go of what she has to uncover, even if it takes everything.
Overall, The Haunting of Lindy Pennyworth is one firecracker of a novel. Not only did it have the major creepy-factor, addictive characters and twists I didn’t see coming, but it was the perfect length for a short but spooky tale that is perfect for Halloween nights and little frights. I did find parts I didn’t enjoy as much as others, but as a whole package, the book was such an amazing read. It definitely isn’t a book I’d read alone in the house or late at night (big mistake there) but it’s perfect for those fans of YA horror with a killer psychological thriller aspect. Four beloved stars!
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September 26, 2021This is one of the latest YA releases from Uclan Publishing and after reading other books from them including the fabulous Mina and the Undead, I knew to expect the unexpected.
As you might have guessed from the title of the novel, this story revolves around Lindy and what is (or isn't) haunting her.
It begins with Lindy being sent to a psychiatric ward, essentially starting at the end - this started the story off in a brilliant way, an instant shock and questions already forming in my head. And then the rewind button is hit and we get an insight into why Lindy has I guess gone mad.
Lindy wasn't always crazy. She was a typical teen, that was until her dad died in a car accident. Unfortunately in an angry outburst, the last words she ever said to him were "I hate you". The poor girl can't let go of how things were left between them, she needs closure.
How she chooses to work through this is to try and contact him - speak to the dead. She tries to contact him through things like Ouija boards but best laid plans . . .
Instead of speaking to her dad. another spirit makes herself known, seventeen-year-old Esmerelda, who tells Lindy that she is in fact her ancestor and puts her on a journey to break a curse that was cast over the Pennyworth family years ago.
A spooktastic ghost story.
I'm not ashamed to say that I was a little bit scared.
The Haunting of Lindy Pennyworth is what I'd describe as a paranormal mystery. Filled with hair-raising twists, there is an eerie atmosphere across the whole story.
What made it stand out for me was the fact that it wasn't just about the ghostly goings on, there was real detail to the back-story and the character of Lindy herself. With talk of grief and mental illness included, the author has been sensitive in their delivery of it all.
And those last sentences, terrifying!
This is a story that I think would work well on the big screen, plenty of jump scares lurk within.
Highly readable.
As you might have guessed from the title of the novel, this story revolves around Lindy and what is (or isn't) haunting her.
It begins with Lindy being sent to a psychiatric ward, essentially starting at the end - this started the story off in a brilliant way, an instant shock and questions already forming in my head. And then the rewind button is hit and we get an insight into why Lindy has I guess gone mad.
Lindy wasn't always crazy. She was a typical teen, that was until her dad died in a car accident. Unfortunately in an angry outburst, the last words she ever said to him were "I hate you". The poor girl can't let go of how things were left between them, she needs closure.
How she chooses to work through this is to try and contact him - speak to the dead. She tries to contact him through things like Ouija boards but best laid plans . . .
Instead of speaking to her dad. another spirit makes herself known, seventeen-year-old Esmerelda, who tells Lindy that she is in fact her ancestor and puts her on a journey to break a curse that was cast over the Pennyworth family years ago.
A spooktastic ghost story.
I'm not ashamed to say that I was a little bit scared.
The Haunting of Lindy Pennyworth is what I'd describe as a paranormal mystery. Filled with hair-raising twists, there is an eerie atmosphere across the whole story.
What made it stand out for me was the fact that it wasn't just about the ghostly goings on, there was real detail to the back-story and the character of Lindy herself. With talk of grief and mental illness included, the author has been sensitive in their delivery of it all.
And those last sentences, terrifying!
This is a story that I think would work well on the big screen, plenty of jump scares lurk within.
Highly readable.
March 11, 2022
I really enjoyed The Haunting of Lindy Pennyworth. I haven't read a ghost story in an age and it had quite a timeless, classic feeling to it without feeling into tired territory or overdone cliches. I read quite a lot of it in the night during a period of insomnia, which only enhanced the creepiness of the tale, and also made being unable to sleep less bad! I found Lindy a great main character- she can be spiky and difficult, but she always stays on the right side of sympathetic, and her pulling out of her own hair I found fascinating. The main thrust of the story is well-paced and pitched, with a great level of depth and intrigue. Anyone who finds cemetaries intriguing and loves Victoriana will find this novel a delight, as will those looking for an intriguing ghost story with twists.
May 12, 2022
This was a chilling read, and read with the lights on! I adore spooky books and this one was perfect. It was beautifully written and kept me guessing throughout. I loved Lindy and was cheering for her the whole way through. The cover of the book is gorgeous, and the story gave me goosebumps! Looking forward to reading more from this exciting author!
April 24, 2022
An entertaining and suspenseful novel blending mystery, psychological horror and ghost story. The Haunting of Lindy Pennyworth is marketed as young adult fiction, but is a great read for adults of any age as well as children from about age 12 upwards. Looking forward to the sequel…
October 24, 2022
This is a first person perspective about a girl who has lost her father in a tragic accident. Since this has happened she has become withdrawn and taken to complusively pulling her hair out to deal with the loss of her father. It details her declining mental health and how this has effected her relationships with her mother, her family and friends.
This realistic but sadening story shows how a persons reality can be warped when their mental health declines. A story which is about the grief over a child losing a parent in a accident then turns out to be something else and means that Lindy is putting herself in danger as her reality is not what everyone else is seeing. The author describes how she feels that her friends and family do not understand and believe her and this is when things take a dramatic turn and results in her putting her life in danger several times.
I really enjoyed the writing style and admit that this is not a novel for everyone however it shines a light on just how important it is to be support when mental health is declining.
This realistic but sadening story shows how a persons reality can be warped when their mental health declines. A story which is about the grief over a child losing a parent in a accident then turns out to be something else and means that Lindy is putting herself in danger as her reality is not what everyone else is seeing. The author describes how she feels that her friends and family do not understand and believe her and this is when things take a dramatic turn and results in her putting her life in danger several times.
I really enjoyed the writing style and admit that this is not a novel for everyone however it shines a light on just how important it is to be support when mental health is declining.
May 23, 2024
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this and flew through it in less than a day. Although maybe enjoyed isn't the right word considering the themes involved.
The plot follows Lindy as she grieves for the death of her father who died in a car accident after they had an accident. Lindy blames herself and this manifests in a decline in her mental health and self harm through hair pulling. The depiction of Lindy's determination in her mental health was accurately portrayed and did leave the reader questioning everything. Was she being haunted or was it a psychosis from her inability to cope with her grief?
I think the epilogue was a bit predictable, but it didn't detract from the overall themes of grief and mental health and the different ways people cope. The fact that this started as a novella for the author's dissertation is incredible and I'm really impressed with how it was fleshed out into a full novel.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Thank you to Netgalley, UCLan Publishing and the author.
The plot follows Lindy as she grieves for the death of her father who died in a car accident after they had an accident. Lindy blames herself and this manifests in a decline in her mental health and self harm through hair pulling. The depiction of Lindy's determination in her mental health was accurately portrayed and did leave the reader questioning everything. Was she being haunted or was it a psychosis from her inability to cope with her grief?
I think the epilogue was a bit predictable, but it didn't detract from the overall themes of grief and mental health and the different ways people cope. The fact that this started as a novella for the author's dissertation is incredible and I'm really impressed with how it was fleshed out into a full novel.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Thank you to Netgalley, UCLan Publishing and the author.
January 11, 2023
The Haunting Of Lindy Pennyworth is now one of my favourite books! It's full of plot twists and is well worth the read. The ending was fantastic; I would definitely reccomend this book to anyone looking for something dark but not too scary. It deals with ideas of bad mental health and self harming so it can be quite relatable for lots of people in and around their teenage years. I would reccomend this book from anyone between 11 - 15.
December 20, 2022
This book follows Lindy Pennyworth after her father’s death. Mental illness, grief, the supernatural and family are interwoven to create a supernatural thriller that started off very strong!
I did feel that the book lost its way at the end and I was quite disappointed by that.
Thank you netgalley for the arc!
I did feel that the book lost its way at the end and I was quite disappointed by that.
Thank you netgalley for the arc!
September 29, 2022
This book was so original and had me questioning EVERYTHING. It was gripping from start to end and is full of vivid descriptions and imagery. I loved it.
July 20, 2023
Loved this!
October 5, 2024
I was not expecting the plot twists but I'm so happy with them!!
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