MIRROR IMAGE

by Catherine Storr

Lisa is sure she has seen a ghost in her mother's bedroom mirror, but who can she tell? Her grandparents are oddly secretive about ghosts and the past, her mother seems distant since her recent marriage, and Lisa definitely can't confide in her new stepsister and stepbrother - she loathes them! As Lisa explores further she unravels some truths about her family's history and begins to look at herself and those closest to her in a new light.

Genres: Childrens, Fiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published May 5, 1994

About the author

Author Catherine Storr was educated at St. Paul's Girls' School and went on to study English at Newnham College, Cambridge. She then went to medical school and worked part-time as a Senior Medical Officer in the Department of Psychological Medicine of the Middlesex Hospital from 1950 to 1963.

Her first book was published in 1940, but was not successful. It was not until the 1950s that her books became popular. She wrote mostly children's books as well as books for adults, plays, short stories, and adapted one of her novels into an opera libretto. She published more than 30 children's books, but is best known for Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf and Marianne Dreams, which was made into a television series and a film.

Reviews

[Hilary · Rating 5 out of 5]

We picked this up in a charity shop and having enjoyed Marianne Dreams and noticing this was by the same author we gave it a try. If we hadn't had previous experience of this author I would probably not have read this as the cover and the very obvious title would have put me off.

Lisa lives happily with her mother, her father died when she was young. When Lisa's mum meets someone new and they marry she finds her stepfather's children living with them. They do not get on and suprisingly this was well written and their feelings and interactions were interesting, which often is not the case as it can be boring listening to arguments and disagreements. The other storyline revolves around Lisa's grandfather. Born in Vienna he moves to England during the second world war and escapes the Holocaust in which sadly his family dies. There is time travel and a mystery during which the family grow to be closer and Lisa discovers more about her grandfather's past.

I am sure this book, in particularly the character of Grandpa's 6 year old sister Elsbet inspired Morris Gleitzman's character Zelda, Elsbet even says 'Don't you know anything' which is Zelda's catchphrase. Their characters are identical and even in one part Now and Then is used as a description.

I'm suprised this book isn't well known, I felt it showed a sensitive insight into world war two and it's impact on survivors and their families.

[Joy Manne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wrote about Catherine Storr, the author in my review of Marianne Dreams. This is another journey into Inner Space by an author competent to draw the map.
The plot has two strands. Lisa's mother remarries, and from being an only child whose father died, she now has a step-father and two step-siblings, a brother and sister, and she doesn't like it. Lisa's grandfather survived Hitler's Germany and the extinction of the Jews because, by chance he was in the UK. He can't talk about it. He has been told his parents and sister perished in camps. These strands are linked by a ghost that warned Grandfather to leave. No spoilers.
Lisa is only one-quarter Jewish. The heavy history of the holocaust has been kept from her. Now she finds out. Catherine Storr deals wisely and sensitively with this difficult material and the issue of what the survivors were able to talk about, as she does with integrating two families, national prejudices (Lisa's step-siblings are French). She also brings in the issue of a mother who has no Inner Child and so cannot be interested in her own children (the step-sibling's mother).
Rich pickings, and again, it's the words wisdom and sensitivity that come to my mind again and again.
Lisa is third generation after the holocaust. I am second generation. This book does not do the emotional blaming stuff. It shows with insight. I am grateful to this author.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was going so well and then on page 143 abruptly finished! Did my copy have pages missing? It just ended almost mid sentence. I was enjoying it up until then. Although it's not as good as Marianne Dreams

[Little Miss Netty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story concept of being able to travel back into the past through a double reflection created with a looking glass and a mirror. Mixing the present day with the past, in WWII. Just felt the ending was a bit unsatisfactory.

[zara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Solid 2 stars the book was nothing like I thought it would be , I thought it would be spookier, so that kind of made me a little upset. Some of the time frames and writing was confusing and was hard to put together.

[Iddzz Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really cool! Love the plot and all! Cute story with some angst but really heartwarming, involving wwii

[Meril Horseback · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up the book without much expectation from an old bookstore, and got fascinated by it. Inktober didn’t allow me to get further than chapter 9 until yesterday, when I brought it to the dinner table thinking I’d finish another chapter before continuing my work later at night, then i couldn’t put it down except for cleaning the dishes and feeding my dog which were done quite reluctantly. It even took me some time to blow my nose and to wipe my tears before going on with the reading, and it’s 1:30am when I finished the last words and put the book down.

It left me unsatisfied and confused, not because of bad writing, no, i loved the book a great deal, but it didn’t exactly end happily, and now I feel so unsure about things we are normally certain we should do, that they are definitely the right choices. A children’s book? It’s definitely for them to read at a young age then come back and read again when they’re adults, to see more of its layers of meaning, to appreciate the good and peaceful life we’re offered now.

[Chris Browning · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this, and the better book is so clearly there, but I found the soapy family stuff tiresome and Storr clearly wants to make the time travel/ haunting stuff complicated but instead makes it unnecessarily muddy and tiresome. I think I most objected - as I absolutely would have done as a child, because I’d not have shut up about it - that Storr takes a fascinating idea (from Dead of Night, no less) and uses it to smuggle some sort of improving message about acceptance instead. And I’ve always been consistently against that sort of manipulative writing. Not impressed

[Ntando · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book when I was in Primary school. It's been a year since I finished High School now and I still remember every little detail in the book. That should mean something

[Margaret Conmey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing
Picked up book in charity shop as the premise sounded interesting but I felt the story was very weak and bizarre ending

[Sophia · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good read. I liked the vibe of the book. I found the mirror really interesting.

[Louise Cowell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not 100% sure about this book. The plot lines has so much potential, just felt like it didn’t land but I can’t say why. Was going to be a 4 star because of the niggly plot line then I read the ending and was significantly let down. It was an alright read but wouldn’t be something I recommended to people.

[K_Y · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Mirror Image Ghost is a fiction book, written by Catherine Storr.
It is a book with about 140 pages, so it will be easy to read. Personally, I think this book is suited to age 10+, because maybe under 10, it is hard to read a book like this, and
Catherine Storr is also the author of Marianne Dreams, another hit book by her.
The characters in the book are Lisa, Pierre, Alice, Fanny and Laurent.
The book is about a girl, Lisa, who gets a stepfather, and she is uncomfortable with the kids he brings to her family, who are Pierre and Alice. Lisa does not like them and how they speak French to each other with her not being able to understand. But that’s not the when she finds the old and heavy mirror in Fanny(Lisa’s mother), she finds something very weird. One day, when she was using both the hand mirror and the old mirror, she sees a flicker. What could it be? Going back again and again to the mirror, she asks her grandparents if they have ever seen a ghost before. And why are they so reluctant to talk about their past? There are some history of the family of Lisa’s grandfather that he does not want to talk about. When she goes to the mirror again, she sees a girl in the mirror, and talks to her. Then she finds out the girl in the mirror is actually her grandfather’s sister, Elsbet, who is known to be dead. How could she talk to a girl from the past? Lisa and Fanny travels to the country that Elsbet is in, and finds out she is alive. But when she sees her, she is very old, knowing that she has seen Elsbet from the past in the mirror. What Elsbet says is: “Your child is a ghost.” Fanny ignores this, as most people would do. Lisa, however, knew what she meant. Since Lisa saw Elsbet from the mirror as a girl, and Lisa did not change, it would seem like it.
This book is full of mystery and wonders. Catherine Storr uses the theme of ghosts to draw attention, since ghosts are eccentric and eerie. When the questions come up, for example, “Why is Lisa’s grandfather not willing to talk about his past?” This keeps the readers interested to find the answer. The book is fantasy and reality mixed, how Lisa gets step-brother/sister/father and also seeing the girl in the mirror. In my opinion, I liked Fanny because she cares about Lisa much and knowing that Lisa is uncomfortable with Pierre and Alice, she tries to help her. When Lisa causes trouble caused by conflict between Pierre and Alice, Fanny shares her thought to Lisa about them too to make her not to have bad feelings about them. Catherine Storr’s writing style is interesting how she writes because she writes in a way that makes people be more interested in the story.
I would recommend this book to readers who are interested in mystery or stories related to time, since this story relates to WWII and how Lisa sees Elsbet in the past.
Overall, I think this story was weird but intriguing.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved this one - bit spooky but still not sure Katie should read it yet! Brings up all sorts of questions about the holocaust.

[Madelyn]

I got this book for Easter, and read it immediately. It is about a girl in present-day, who sees a ghost. Present mixes with past and it involves WWII

[Dannuel Delizo · Rating 3 out of 5]

i've seen a movie with the same thread. oh well, whatta cute story.