The Haunting by Margaret Mahy (1982)

The Haunting

Margaret Mahy

Publisher - Magnet / Methuen - 1982

Paperback - Not priced

   This was not the next book I originally picked up to read after Robert Westall's;  Blitz, but for reasons I'll cover when I get round to finishing that one, this turned out to a much needed little gem.

   I cant remember where I picked it up.  I want to say it was fairly recently, from a charity shop in some seaside town or other, and that it probably only cost me a quid.  As a bonus it's in near perfect condition that makes it hard to accept that its over 40 years old.  And it certainly doesn't read like it is.  It also looks exactly like the kind of kids genre stories that drew me back into reading the books I missed out on when I was that age. And now I've finished it I can confirm its a fine example, all be it in not quite the way I expected. 

   Which is to say that despite the title and the cover, its not quite what it seems to be but in a good way.  In fact it does a couple of unexpected turns that a lesser man might christen; plot twists, but which are in fact just contradicting the reader's presumptions.  And no I'm not going to call them out here and ruin anyone's future reading pleasure.

   What I will say though is that the characterisation of the main family; The Palmers is an absolute delight.  They are funny and the interplay between the Dad, step mum and the three children is wonderful and refreshingly devoid of cliches.  Mahy's style pops with great dialogue and feels very real.

     "There was trouble at once with the cool receptionist, she was so very white and immaculate that she seemed to leave a bright outline of herself in the air after she had moved on, so that you saw her where she was and where she had been at the same time. There was something of science fiction about this which Tabitha would have liked to take notes on, but she was trying to seem particularly polite."

   Mahy reminds me a bit of Robert Westall and especially the way he wrote the main family in his The Wind Eye YA novel.  Which is surely the secret of writing one of these 'spooky' little tales; if you like the characters then you will care what happens to them and so the threat is naturally elevated. 

   I've another of Mahy's books on the shelf, called The Trickster which ill be getting round to sooner rather than later but on the strength of this one alone, I will be seeking out more of her past works.

A new old voice to add to the list. - Lovely!

Steve