The Ghost Writer

"The Ghost Writer" by John Harwood is a return to the old fashioned supernatural stories of the romantic period. The plot is complex - but essentially deals on two parallel planes: the secret past of the main character's mother, and the relationship between the main character and a penpal that he falls in love with. More detailed information on the plot is available above and I will not rehash it here. This book is spellbinding as the main character ends up looking for clues into his family history in the old family house in England that has sat closed up for 50 years. A main element in the plot are a series of ghost stories written by his grandmother around the turn of the century. Several of the stories are included in the novel and hold clues to the past the main character seeks. These stories are well written and have a good period feel to them. They stand on their own outside the novel. The writing in this novel is superb - and creepy. I ended up reading this novel in one sitting because I could simply no put it down. The only complaint is that the ending is a little abstract. Read the last chapter very carefully - especially the last few pages - if you want to figure out what happened. If you want my take on what happened I will put it here - If you dont want to know STOP READING HERE. SPOILER: Here is my take on the ending (which may be wrong - but it is my opinion!). The woman in the room is Anne, Abigail and Alice all in one person. She wanted revenge on Filly so she started writing the letters to Gerald to manipulate him into never finding true love. since hers was stolen from her. When she says - "I saw no light and thought I was safe" she is referring to the floroscope. Because it would only come on when Filly's light was on, she would know when it was safe to sleep in her own bed and not get contaminated with the x-rays. But the light bulb in Filly's lamp was broken so when she saw the dark under the door she assumed the lamp was off - and it was safe for her to sleep. During the night she was exposed to the x-rays and, along with the subsequent medical treatments that she refers to - become the lovely lady she is at the end of the novel. I assume that she runs into the fire and dies at the end of the novel.

THE GHOST WRITER is probably one of the creepiest, most thought-provoking books I've ever read. The story centers around Gerard Freeman, an Australian librarian who lives with his mother -- a clingy, obsessive woman afraid above all that Gerard will leave her. His only real friend is a pen-friend, Alice Jessell, an English woman with an injury which confines her to a wheelchair. Though the two have never met, they have been corresponding since they were 13 and eventually fall in love. Gerard is intensely curious about his mother's past in England at a country manor called Staplefield, where she lived with her grandmother Viola, who raised her. Gerard finds a photo of a strange woman and a Victorian ghost story written by V.H., who turns out to be Viola. Gerard eventually makes his way to England, where he begins to unravel his mother's past, meanwhile discovering more ghost stories written by his great-grandmother which oddly seem to intertwine with the lives of her descedants. John Harwood does a masterful job creating suspense in the manner of Henry James' THE TURN OF THE SCREW, to which he alludes in the name of Gerard's penfriend -- "Where, my pet, is Miss Jessel?" Viola's Victorian ghost stories are interwoven with the plot in a rather impressive plot construction; it would have been all too easy in the hands of a less-gifted writer, for the plot to go astray when the ghost stories "interrupt" the action of the novel. As it is, they hardly seem like interruptions, and indeed, they are so good that they might stand on their own. "The Gift of Flight" was terrifying and reminded me a Twilight Zone episode I once saw called "The Living Doll." You've probably seen it... "My name is Talky Tina... and I'm going to kill you." *Shivers* This isn't Stephen King. This is much, much better. If you liked the Victorian creepiness of THE TURN OF THE SCREW, GREAT EXPECTATIONS (also alluded to in THE GHOST WRITER), or even A.S. Byatt's POSSESSION, which was both very different and very similar in subject matter (which I know makes no sense), then you'll enjoy this book. Gerard's mother's home in England reminded me of the house in THE OTHERS. Once you pick this book up, you may find it hard to put down. The ending is a bit confusing. I had to read it twice, and I still think what I think happened is very much open to interpretation. Then again, the best scary stories are like that.

This is an astounding book. It is multi-layered and moody. It is terrific fun. The story is about a young man named Gerard, born in Australia to a very strange mother who tells the young boy stories of her childhood. When Gerard discovers a strange photo of a beautiful woman hidden in her drawer, his mother becomes horrified, and stops her stories, and the boy is left to wonder about her past and why she is so reluctant to share it with him. This novel is full of intrique and deception, and we are told some truly frightening ghost stories written by his great-grandmother, Viola. Okay, here is the thing....when I first read this book, I was confused as to the ending, like so many reviewers here. So I read it again, and I figured it out. This story does makes sense, the author doesn't cheat, and there are answers to most of the big questions. It is a brilliant story filled with twists and full of irony and chilling retribution. Each ghost story has a relevance to the book, and the overall tone and use of layering and deception is stunning. This book will stay with you for a long time. This is my favorite book this year, and I am going to recommend it to everyone. Read it carefully, and if you are still confused, read it again. I promise you it will be worth it, and you will agree with me that this is a brilliant, complex novel deserving of a big audience.

In his debut novel, John Harwood creates an eerily psychological horror story with a nod (and a wave) to Victorian literature. As the novel begins in Australia, young Gerard discovers hidden away in his mother's possessions a strange photograph and a book. His mother swoops down on him with fury, snatching the belongings from him and hiding them away where Gerard cannot find them, refusing to tell him of her past. Soon thereafter, he begins a secret correspondence with a crippled English girl named Alice, and her letters rescue him emotionally from the bleak surroundings in his Australian home. As he matures, he falls in love with Alice, who won't let him see her for fear he'll feel sorry for her. As he learns that the book his mother has hidden away contained a ghost story written by his grandmother Viola, which Harwood presents in full, Gerard confides even more deeply in Alice. Viola's lengthy - and thoroughly creepy - stories seem like separate entities until Gerard discovers some disturbing connections. Upon his mother's death, he sets out to England to finally meet up with his almost-healed Alice and to settle family matters. What he doesn't count on, however, is that nothing, not even his own senses, can be trusted. Even if the reader solves much of the mystery before it is revealed, the ending has all the force it should, thanks to Harwood's highly visual description and talent with suspense.Harwood does a marvelous job of embedding the mannered ghost stories within Gerard's story, and the stories-within-a-story works exceptionally well in his hands. The tales are so throat-grabbing by themselves that I forgot at times that they were but segments of the whole. The effect is truly eerie as details from them begin to surface in Gerard's plot. Because the author's debt to Henry James' THE TURN OF THE SCREW is obvious well before he makes reference to it, I wished he had just let the style and the allusions to speak for themselves instead of pointing them out. His acknowledgment of Dickens' GREAT EXPECTATIONS is even less successful. I overlooked these lapses simply because I could not willingly put this novel aside.This is not Stephen King-type horror but something more elegant and literary. This moody, stylish debut will capture your imagination for hours at a time. Especially if you like creepiness, you'll love this tale of multiple hauntings and mystery.