Customer Reviews

Candle in Her Room (Knight Books)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I first read this book in junior high, after which I read every Ruth M. Arthur book available. When Amazon opened its web-doors, it was one of the first out of print books I ordered.

This is a story of an English girl who must come to grips with the strange and twisted past of her ancient family. This mystery centers around a doll named Dido who seems to exert supernatural control over its owner. A truly delicious and delightful book.

When I was a girl, A Candle in Her Room was actually my sister's book. There was something about it though and I really wanted to read it. Mostly because my sister and mother didn't want me to. It's a fascinating read for a kid, full of drama and magic and scares. Several generations of a family have their lives changed for better and worse because of this evil doll known as Dido. I'm an adult and I still remember the book. I recommend it to any young girl.

I read A candle in her room when I was 11 (30 years ago). I was fascinated by the character especially Dilys. I have never forgotten what a wonderful book it was - it has a bit of everything, suspense, mystery, love, romance etc. I memorised the first and final lines of the book and can you believe - I still know them (even though I do not have a copy of the book - which i would so love to have and if anyone can help me, please do). Here goes: A suppose if we had not come to Prembrokeshire, Judith, Briony and i, this story would never have been written. There would have been no Dido....... And suddenly, i felt secure an happy with a happiness I had never expected to have known. A gentle glowing happiness which burnt in side me like a clear steady flame." How crazy is that - maybe I was touched by Dido all those years back and I'm still captivated!

I first read this book nearly 30 years ago and can still remember it vividly. A wonderfully atmospheric book. I can't wait for my daughter to read it. I wish it were still in print.

I read this book first when I was very young, a school library copy, and adored it - I'm sure that if my mother had read it, I wouldn't have been afforded the chance to do so. In the interval, I forgot both title and author name, but not the plot. I recently rediscovered the information I'd waylaid and ordered a used copy, a battered one that looks like it just got banished from a politically correct school library.

Anyway...even to an adult who's been an eclectic reader...this novel is still compelling. It's been an utter delight to revisit, including its skilled and delicately-rendered illustrations. No need for me to repeat what others have written here about the plot, I love the style of this fiction, which involves the kind of lyrical detail combined with slow, dreamy, incremental fear that I've come to savor in Tanith Lee's first two "Blood Opera" novels. I think my love of psychological horror fiction began with "A Candle in Her Room." The best psychological horror fiction is about evil that is illogical but real, and around this idea the plot of "A Candle" turns.

Never, before or since have I read a book which affected me the way this one did. I remember it in almost uncanny detail. I have read thousands of books since I first got a copy of A Candle In her Room, and still I don't think I have come across one that came close to meeting the impact this one little "weekly reader" book had. Thirty years later.. I don't know if I could even explain how it makes me feel.

I was still playing with dolls when I read this book - 1972-73? Around 10/11 years old, and it made a deep terrifying impression on me, though I didn't "get" a lot of it, till much later. Ms. Arthur vividly transported a kid growing up in West Texas to the pre-war Welsh seaside, and a world with roots stretching back to ancient black magic. It's such a great book, I wish the BBC would turn it into some fantastic mini Masterpiece theatre series. It's perfectly structured for that, as it spans 3 generations. Hello, those in the UK, are you listening? Of course it would help if it were back in print. Publishers! Bring this book back! My 1966 copy is falling apart!

I just re-read this book, for the first time since I read it oh about 17 years ago. Even as an adult , I find myself moved by certain scenarios involved in the story. I had long forgotten how dear the character Liss was to me, and how menacing DIDO continued to be throughout the decades in this story. If you are an adult and into horror novels this is probably not one for you, but I think it is a great read for any student around 10 - 13 years of age, OR for anyone else who is looking for a quick comfortable read, portrayed delightfully by Ruth M Arthur. It is such a comfortable book, at times mysteriously creepy. Love it.

I first read this book when I was about 10, and still remember how amazed I was by the story. Over the course of my childhood and well into adulthood, I have re-read it many times. It never fails to grip me. The writing- the development of the characters and setting, and the story itself- is classical, almost Bronte-esque.

Defintely eerie, perhaps even a bit frightening; touching in the altruistic characters of Melissa and Briony, and even little Emmie-Lee; a lesson in the power of obsession; and an example of the relevance of family history... I highly recommend A Candle in Her Room for anyone from age 10 (depending on the sensitivity of the child) to 110.

I read this book when I was about 10 or 12 and remember all these decades later- It was Terrifying. How could a *doll* do so much to the family- haunt them through the generations? It was even more terrifying to me because one of the sisters who possessed the doll was very much like my own sister (before she was possessed by the doll)- I wondered at times what would possess her.

I wouldn't want my 10 yo to read this- I think it't suitable for girls who are past the age of actively playing with dolls- for some, there are parts that are not suitable until kids are at least 14 or 15 because some heinous things happen to family members.

still, it's obviously a book with a lot of impact since there seem to be many grown women who remembered the book into adulthood. I clearly remember my mental image of Dido and could draw her still. *shudder*