“Sonia envied her, the way she could turn her brain off, think about absolutely nothing. It was a trick Sonia herself had never learned. That was what books did – they turned off your thinking for you, put their thoughts in your head so you wouldn’t have your own.”
“That was what the books did—they turned off your thinking for you, put their thoughts in your head so you wouldn’t have your own.”
Vermont, 1950. There’s a place for the girls whom no one wants–the troublemakers, the illegitimate, the too smart for their own good. It’s called Idlewild Hall. And in the small town where it’s located, there are rumors that the boarding school is haunted. Four roommates bond over their whispered fears, their budding friendship blossoming–until one of them mysteriously disappears. . . .
Vermont, 2014. As much as she’s tried, journalist Fiona Sheridan cannot stop revisiting the events surrounding her older sister’s death. Twenty years ago, her body was found lying in the overgrown fields near the ruins of Idlewild Hall. And though her sister’s boyfriend was tried and convicted of murder, Fiona can’t shake the suspicion that something was never right about the case.
When Fiona discovers that Idlewild Hall is being restored by an anonymous benefactor, she decides to write a story about it. But a shocking discovery during the renovations will link the loss of her sister to secrets that were meant to stay hidden in the past–and a voice that won’t be silenced. . . .
This is truly a ghost story! And the setting is one of my favorites. A gothic style girl’s school in the middle of nowhere Vermont. Set in the 1950’s, when being anything other than perfect could get you packed off to what we will loosely call a girls boarding school.
The school itself is a dark, spooky place, with things going bump in the night and strange smells and writing on the mirrors. Four girls, Katie, Roberta, CeCe and Sonia. As different as can be but bound by their mutual fear and pasts.
The story is told from the girls points of view and in the present by Fiona. A journalist with a connection of her own with Idlewild Hall. And when she hears that someone has bought the old place and is going to renovate it, she feels a strong pull to write about it, investigate the rumors of Mary Hand, the ghost who haunts the school as well as find out about her sister’s murder.
There is a little bit of everything in here. Nazis, Concentration Camps, illegitimate children, PTSD, some horrible thing has happened to all of these girls and they come up with a plan to escape but they never forgot. With a little help from Fiona they just may get justice after all.
Like I said this is a ghost story with an actual ghost and I loved it.
When I tried to review this book on Amazon, it notified me that they were not accepting reviews for this book because of some suspicious activity with a lot of the reviews. That has never happened before. As soon as I hit Write a Review a notice came up that no reviews were being accepted. Wonder what happened there?
xx Patricia
I love your review. I’m reading this now. I’ve been reading several posts about Amazon cracking down on robo “likes”, etc. but I have no idea if that is true.
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I know I hear all the time about them removing reviews, but this just said. No Reviews of this material are being accepted because of some questions about the book/author. Very odd.
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I was told they are looking into paid reviews and at the number of books you have sold versus the number of reviews you have. Makes sense.
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I loved it too! Fantastic review. Very weird about Amazon. They have become a lot more strict these days about verified purchases etc… Hasn’t happened to me but that’s not good
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It was weird at first but then I spoke to someone at Amazon and they were in the middle of a purge of suspect reviews. Today I was able to post it. I heard last night from two authors who lost over 100 reviews because they were suspect. I checked and none of mine were pulled.
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Oh wow! How awful for them. I’m glad you’re aren’t pulled. I did hear that one that specifically say “in exchange for an honest review…” are being deleted because the books weren’t purchased from Amazon
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Greetings, my fellow blogger! hehe i’m a new one here and i love your reviews so much, i’ve read few. i hope to be friends with you.
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Sounds like you are a book lover too!
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The mean people even hack into Amazon and mess with reviews! That’s really going over the top. I love ghost stories but have to watch when I read those kinds of stories. Sounds like a good read though.
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I enjoyed reading your review. The issues with Amazon seem really strange.
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They seem random to me. So far I have only heard self published and indie authors, and Anne Rice.
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I really enjoyed this title. Strange what happened when you tried to post your review on Amazon. I’ve never heard of that happening before either. My review of “The Broken Girls” published to Amazon without a hitch. I’ll be interested to see if this type of thing happens again.
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Mine did fine the very next day. I got an email from Amazon to go ahead and post. It was the book that was under suspicion for whatever reason.
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Weird…..
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Great detail! Can’t wait to publish my first book to hopefully get amazing reviews from you… keep up the great work
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