#charis cotter

Description:

Hardcover, 318 pages Published September 9th 2014 by Tundra Books Original Title: The Swallow: A Ghost Story ISBN: 1770495916 (ISBN13: 9781770495913) Edition Language: English Literary Awards: Diamond Willow Award Nominee (2015)

  Paperback Published September 5th 2017 by Tundra Books (NY) (first published September 9th 2014) Original Title The Swallow: A Ghost Story ISBN 1770495924…

As we near Halloween, I have no choice but to fill up with any and all media with that little spook to it (no choice because Halloween is shamelessly my absolute favorite holiday). Of course, I realized a couple of years ago that I do much better to stay away from anything too extreme (I have a very active imagination) and stick to things that are compelling and set in that Halloween mindset, but only just bristle the hairs on the back of my neck. Charis Cotter’s story fit the bill perfectly.

The book throws you, page one, into the minds of two 13-year-old girls passing their time in 1960s Toronto. While it was an abrupt shift from the other stuff I’ve been reading (first person always is for me), it didn’t take long for me to get completely immersed. I started it one night, intending to just read it for a few minutes while I waited on my youngest to wake up for his midnight bottle, but after a short time I just couldn’t put it down. It has that addicting formula of short chapters and mystery, where you keep telling yourself you’ll read just one more chapter, but that never happens: there’s always something you’re dying to find out.

I don’t want to go too much into the story, so I don’t take away the mystery for anyone, but essentially, we are introduced to two foil characters. We have Rose, a quiet girl who sees ghosts and often feels as invisible as one, even in her small family; and we have Polly, a lively girl who’s addicted to ghost stories and wants nothing more than to experience one herself, if only to escape from how crazy her huge family can be. One day, they both end up hiding out in their adjoining attics, and though, at first, they think each other is a ghost in the darkness, they become fast friends.

The rest of the narrative takes us through the next few weeks of their time together as they discover Rose’s family’s haunting history, the angry spirit in her attic, and Polly’s brother’s theory that Rose is in fact The Ghost Girl (a spirit who befriends girls and then steals their soul). It’s a delightful roller coaster of is she or isn’t she and the answer, once you get it, is definitely not what you’re expecting.

Happy October!

Get ready for Halloween with some chilling, ghostly, horrific, and mysterious books!

Our first suggestion is The Swallow: A Ghost Story (eBook) by Charis Cotter.

Polly is obsessed with ghosts, and she'd love to meet one for real. Instead, she meets Rose, who can actually see ghosts! But it isn't as wonderful as Polly thinks. And there's something odd about Rose. She's a little strange, a little ethereal, a little... ghostly?