The Time of the Ghost [Hardcover]

Diana Wynne Jones (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2002

She seemed to have no body. She thought she might be a ghost. She did not even know her name. All she knew was that she was one of four sisters whose parents ran a boarding house in a boys' school -- but whether she was fat Cart, morbid Imogen, almost-normal Sally, or strange Fenella, she had no idea. Only one thing seemed clear: Her peculiar state had something to do with Monigan, the goddess Cart had invented a year ago.

The ghost tried desperately to let the sisters know she was there. She tried to tell boys from the school and to attract her parents' attention. For a long time nobody noticed her except Oliver, the dog. When the sisters did notice her, they tried to deal with her in all sorts of ways, and nearly everything they did got someone into bad trouble.

In fact it took a lot of trouble before everyone realized that Monigan was a real goddess, terrible and threatening, and that the ghost was somehow in her power. And it took a sacrifice from everyone before the ghost could discover who she was. But saving her from Monigan would be even more difficult.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Published in Great Britain in 1981 and available here for the first time, this gripping novel serves up often giddily hilarious fantasy that nonetheless deals unflinchingly with some ugly issues. At least twice in the course of the multi-layered narrative, the heroine has not the faintest idea who she is?a powerful metaphor for the novel's underlying theme of alienation from self. The story begins with the as-yet-nameless heroine floating?literally?through a boys' boarding school and its outlying grounds, a setting she finds oddly familiar. With a little spectral sleuthing (easy enough to accomplish when you're invisible) the disembodied spirit concludes that she is Sally Medford, one of a quartet of eccentric sisters who live at the school and are grossly neglected by their overworked schoolmaster parents. As the plot continues on its intriguingly convoluted path, evidence of time-travel begins to emerge: the college-age Sally is in a hospital, gravely injured after her abusive boyfriend throws her from a speeding car. Some part of her has journeyed back seven years into the past, where?with the help of her sisters and their schoolboy friends?she must undo a rash bargain with a powerful and ancient goddess. Given the violent boyfriend and the girls' ill-tempered father (prone to referring to his daughters as "bitches"), this tale is less overtly lighthearted than such Wynne Jones works as Howl's Moving Castle and Charmed Life but it is just as profoundly satisfying. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal

Grade 7-9-This convoluted novel, first published in Great Britain in 1981, is unlikely to find a wide audience despite the popularity of the author's later works. Although the basic premise is intriguing and the story's background and characters are potentially engaging, the fragmented plot and shifting time frame make it difficult to follow the action or to understand the story's abrupt resolution. In a nutshell, a ghost returns to the past and attempts to effect a change that will prevent her impending death and free her from an ancient evil. The fact that the ghost is unsure of her identity (although she knows she is one of the four Melford sisters) contributes to the confusion as does the discovery, halfway through the book, that the events described thus far have actually taken place in the past. The briefly sketched British boarding-school setting, sophisticated (and occasionally unfamiliar) vocabulary, and the sisters' cryptic communication styles provide further challenges to readers. Finally, those who persevere may be frustrated by the amount of action that is implied and by the anticlimactic ending. Ironically, despite the supernatural aspects of the story, it is the book's resemblance to real life that prevents it from being successful: it is too chaotic, confounding, ambiguous, and arbitrary to be a truly satisfying reading experience.
Lisa Dennis, The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Greenwillow (September 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060298871
• ISBN-13: 978-0060298876
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,669,229 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Diana Wynne Jones spent her childhood in Essex and has been writing fantasy novels for children since 1973. With her unique combination of magic, humour and imagination, she has been enthralling children and adults with her work ever since. She won the Guardian Award in 1977 with Charmed Life, was runner-up for the Children's Book Award in 1981, and was twice runner-up for the Carnegie Medal. She is married with three sons, and lives in Bristol with her husband.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a good book, but not her best, July 5, 2003

By 

Jane Lebak "tabris02" (sunny New England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Time of the Ghost (Mass Market Paperback)

I have come to expect a consistently terrific story from Diana Wynne Jones, and this story is no exception. In it she sets a creepy mood and immediately jumps into the story, tossing the reader puzzle pieces so the reader can figure out what is going on even as the characters do (something she does incredibly well.) Not a scene is wasted. The story is tight and without the 200 pages of material which should have been edited out that you'll find in many fantasy novels nowadays. Although the reader may be confused at times, it's because the situation is confusing to everyone involved and not because it's poorly written, not at all.

My quibbles would be that the story is rather dark at times in theme and tone, and that the characters other than the narrator are difficult to like at first. The parents have no redeeming features, although it seems like she tries to give them some toward the end. It's not lighthearted at the end, and readers of some of Diana Wynne Jones' other titles may be startled by this. The ending is very satisfactory, but again, it's a bit dark.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a fantasy set in the modern world, or who likes to solve mysteries along with the characters. But I would also recommend not looking at the cover, as that hideous face kept me from actually reading the book for about six months.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Deep, Difficult, and Absolutely Wonderful Read, June 25, 2005

By 

S.T. Neb (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Time of the Ghost (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is a difficult read. It is not easy sailing, though the writing is superb. This book is unconventional to the extreme. There are two confusing points in the book, one of which is the ghost's identity (which sister is it?), and the other is that fact that the ghost is NOT a ghost of a dead person. But you can figure out the ghost's identity fairly quickly if you pick up several obvious clues that many seem to miss, and this book is one of my favorites.
I won't go into the plot--other's, such as the publishers, have done it already--save to say that it is not gory or freakshly disturbing. If you are zealosuly religions, then you may not like this book, as it does have a "dark, old, female something" (a goddess-like presence) and severe neglect from the parents regarding the four sister-protagonists. One of the sisters goes missing, and the parents doen't even notice after several days, even though the mother comes in to say good-night and the father throws a rage at them later, even going through all four names without noticing before leaving.
This book is more like a window into a at-once familiar and fantastical world than a science-fiction/fantasy novel, a world where things that most people go through in childhood (such as a play-sceance using scrabble-letters or a belief that there is a ghost in the house) do not collapse into disbelief with time but are confirmed in a subtle, definite way. THAT is the whole of the 'horror and occult' in this book.
The characters are exactly drawn. Perhaps others do not know people as unusual or interesting as the four Melford sisters, but they are the sort of people who are at the edge of the population, who turn into famous artists, writers, musicians--the sort of people who go into history books (the sort of people who are very unusual). They are disinctly portrayed, and you can feel that you would recognize them on the street after reading the book. The personalities are very vibrant, and the entire book is a pleasurable read. You may want to reread this book later, because it is one of those books that can be reread many times; not open and direct, but secretive, mysterious, and very well-woven. Five stars on this one. Diana Wynne Jones has done an excellent job and has not been afraid to step out of the borders of conventional fiction writing to turn out a novel of striking originality.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Combination of Laughter and Fear, February 27, 2001

By 

Natalie - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Time of the Ghost (Paperback)

I didn't find the book confusing, it does make you dizzy but no more so than any of her books. I think the book is very very funny in many ways, from the bowl of blood with all the boys queueing up for 50p with nose bleeds etc. The girls' father is also an amusing factor, not unlike the ogre in "The Ogre Downstairs" without the humour, and the way he constantly forgets their names, "Sally, Fenella er, Ingrid." and has to speak at least three before he gets the right one is entertaining. The book does have the underlying menace that Wynne Jones is famous for, and Monaghan is a creepy force. The end of the book is also slightly daunting, and one feels sorry for the 'sacrifice' in some ways. I enjoyed the book, it is a change from some DWJ's usual stuff and that may surprise readers and leave them disatisfied if that is what they expect, but if you keep an open mind I think you'll enjoy it.