The Haunting
Ratings3
Average rating4
15
Ratings3
Average rating4
Winner of the 1982 Carnegie Medal, The Haunting is a thrilling ghost story about a 'mostly ordinary' family and a secret legacy. 'You're really starting to look haunted, you know . . . sort of yellowish and transparent like cooking oil, and your eyes are funny.' Eight-year-old Barney has been haunted before. He thought it was something he'd just grow out of, like the imaginary friends his step-mother believes he has. But this time it's different. Footsteps follow him, there's a demanding voice barking orders, and Barney begins to feel that sometimes his body is not his own at all . . . With the help of his sisters, Tabitha and Troy, Barney sets out to uncover the truth about their family secrets and to find out once and for all who is haunting him. 'Supernatural happenings and psychic powers, all packed into a ghost story that holds us until the last page is turned.' New York Times Book Review 'Mahy projects the haunting with such imaginative force and seriousness that you'll hear those footsteps and that husky voice as Barney does' Kirkus Reviews
Reviews with the most likes.
Barney is hearing voices and steps. What is going on? Is a ghost haunting him? And, if so, who is the ghost? And what is this he learns about family magic?
When I read about this story—ghosts, hauntings, spookiness—it did not appeal to me at all. But it really wasn't about ghosts or hauntings or spookiness. Instead, it was about having special qualities and one's and others' willingness or refusal to embrace these.
