Ghost Abbey (Point) [Turtleback]

Robert Westall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1994 | Series: Point

When her father's new job takes the entire family to a dilapidated old abbey in England, twelve-year-old Maggi discovers that both she and the building are haunted by ghosts from their pasts.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Maggi has but one hope when her father is offered a job on the renovation of a stately home in the English countryside of Cheshire. She wants to wrest him away from the influence of blowsy Doris Streeton, who has had her eye on the man since Maggi's mother died. Soon the small family of four (including Maggi's twin brothers, Baz and Gaz) is headed for the 99-room home, where they meet its owner, "Mzz" MacFarlane. The house exerts a strange influence on Maggi; she sees a man who could only have lived 400 years ago, and hears noises and singing in other parts of the house. It becomes apparent to her that the house will exact revenge on anyone who tries to harm it, but because no one believes her, Maggi fights for the lives of her family members alone. From the rather glib spelling of Ms. MacFarlane's title, to the contrasting portraits of cheap, lazy Doris-the-manhunter and the hard-working "little mother" Maggi (almost half the chapters begin in the kitchen, with Maggi either cooking or cleaning up), Westall's views on women seem to run to type and this weakens the story. But the Cheshire atmosphere and the culminating romance between Maggi's father and McFarlane is well portrayed. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-9-- Maggi hopes that her father's new job, restoring an old abbey in Cheshire, England, will be just what he needs. He hasn't been the same since her mother died, and she has borne the brunt of raising not only herself, but her unruly, destructive, younger twin brothers. At first the house is magical and mysterious; it haunts her benignly with strange sights and sounds, as if welcoming her--until it is threatened by vandals, and the money for repairs starts to run out. A series of nasty accidents makes her then realize that the house would protect itself, no matter what, and that the slightest wrong move could plunge her into danger. There are two stories here--the gothic ghost mystery and a "problem" story, as Maggi copes with her ambivalent feelings about her father's growing romance with his eccentric employer. The latter story is resolved in a more satisfying manner than the former, although both generate tensions that compel readers eagerly on. However, nothing is ever revealed about the hauntings except that they're an aspect of the house's self-awareness; nothing is resolved, and the plot elements that facilitate the ghost story don't hold up under close inspection. Yet the atmosphere is superbly evoked, and the characters are original and complex, even the sometimes quirky minor ones. Westall does have a tendency to trot out characters and facts only when he needs them. The twins, set up very strongly, are conspicuously absent in large segments of the book. The Tyneside dialect of the father might be awkward for American children, and the class conflict will be lost on them, but they're sure to be enthralled with the idea of living and exploring in a centuries-old house. While the ending is not convincing, the climax is thrilling, and readers will be left feeling that they had a good time. --Annette Curtis Klause, Montgomery County Department of Public Libraries, Md.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Turtleback: 169 pages
• Publisher: Demco Media (February 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0606058427
• ISBN-13: 978-0606058421
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,967,194 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You are so nice to come home to, May 14, 2002

By 

E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ghost Abbey (Point) (Paperback)

I just finished reading a couple of Young Adult gothics by John Bellairs, who liked to claim that his imagination got stuck at ten. His books really read like they're written from a child's perspective. Robert Westall writes in the same genre (YA ghost story) and "Ghost Abbey" is told from the perspective of a twelve-year-old girl, but without the whimsy that is Bellairs's hallmark. It's a book written by an adult for children. On the positive side, the story is more complex than, say, Bellairs's "The Vengeance of the Witch-finder." In fact, "Ghost Abbey" reminds me of Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House" more than anything by Bellairs. Westall ends his work on a more positive note, but it's still eerily similar to Jackson's ending.

A young teen-ager, Maggi takes care of her widowed father and her two cub-scout-aged twin brothers. There is also a slovenly housekeeper with the notion of marrying Maggi's father, who has 'kind, lost, blue eyes.' When a letter arrives asking Maggi's father, who is a master builder, to come fix up an old abbey, Maggi at least jumps at the opportunity to get away from the slovenly housekeeper and give her twin brothers a bit of a vacation in Chesire. She talks her father into going, and they all pile into the old Ford Transit van. Due to several mechanical breakdowns, the van doesn't arrive at the abbey until after dark.

Let the spookiness begin! Westall really knows how to build an atmosphere, and although Maggi knows she shouldn't be wandering around in the dark, she absolutely has to find the loo before she can go to sleep.

The author does a great job of combining the details of everyday life in an old abbey---how Maggi's father sets them up so that they can take hot baths; how Maggi manages her household allowance (the family eats lots of chips); how the lady of the Abbey gradually becomes part of the family---but Westall never lets his readers forget where they are or who else might be sharing the abbey with them.

Although "Ghost Abbey" is a very family-oriented story, Westall has also written collections of ghost stories for the adult market (he's especially fond of feline ghost stories).

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars DON'T MESS WITH THIS PLACE--IT COULD KILL YOU!, October 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Ghost Abbey (Point) (Paperback)

Twelve-year-old Maggi has her hands full in this English ghost story; everything from insolent louts and anachronistic ectoplasm to malevolent architecture. Having taken over as the Little Missus when her Mam died, she has to deal with a gone-to-seed carpenter father, horrid younger twin brothers, and a lazy floozy of a housekeeper with designs on Dad. Naturally father and daughter jump at the chance to refurbish an old abbey/house in Cheshire for an eager contractor friend, who believes in the Past. But who knows what awaits their arrival in their hopeful innocence for a new life? More than the schoolmarmish secretary for the Marigold Trust...

To be sure the new place has ghosts as well as a sinister conscience. Maggi learns to be kind to the house and respectful of its ancient contents. Soon she starts talking To the house (so it won't consider her an enemy), for she has realized its power of retribution. Aye, this is one abbey that can take care of itself. I hope you are good at reading dialect, for it's quite a challenge for Yankee readers to decipher the meanings of British phrases, not to mention imagine in our mind's ear the sound of Dad's broad Tyneside accent. Nevertheless, this is an interesting read about a young girl's attempts to preserve her family in the face of supernatural forces. Will she ever discover the Abbey's true secret and win its approval? Girls 10-14 will enjoy this book, but be warned: don't mess with old teddy bears!

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars terrific.., July 21, 2005

By 

volkstoddin (Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ghost Abbey (Point) (Paperback)

Maggi is loveable, alive, curious, and endearing. I love this story to pieces and have read it dozens of times! The abbey is wonderfully painted in your mind. Characters abound. Going to the abbey is an adventure and learning it's history makes good fun. I agree, as I read a review by a young reader, "I too" wish the story didn't end, I want to know more of their future to come... :)