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The Ghost's Child
This enchanting fable of a young woman and a wild boy is a haunting
meditation on the nature of love and loss.
Maddy, an old lady now, arrives home one day to find a peculiar boy waiting for her. Over tea, she tells him the story of her life long ago, when she wished for her days to be as romantic and mysterious as a fairy tale. It was then that she fell painfully in love wi...more
meditation on the nature of love and loss.
Maddy, an old lady now, arrives home one day to find a peculiar boy waiting for her. Over tea, she tells him the story of her life long ago, when she wished for her days to be as romantic and mysterious as a fairy tale. It was then that she fell painfully in love wi...more
Hardcover, 192 pages
Published
October 14th 2008
by Candlewick Press
(first published July 2nd 2007)
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Permit a philosophical review, for it is a philosophical book. It is a superbly written story that immediately submerges the reader in lyrical prose. The style is perfectly suited to the poetic theme which has the echo and poignancy of an age-old fable. Style and structure gradually build the narrative and leave the reader in anticipation of some great event, of some significant and completely transforming act.
My hope was that it would glorify complete selflessness, and show the beau...more
My hope was that it would glorify complete selflessness, and show the beau...more
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What does it mean to love someone very deeply, and then lose that love? And what does it mean to love someone deeply, but still yearn for something more? Once again, Harnett illuminates the hidden places of the human heart with truth and beauty.
Matilda, an old woman, enters her sitting room to find a mysterious young boy waiting there for her. His smoky colored eyes are familiar and though he has surprised her with his arrival, the two share tea and conversation for an afternoon.
Maddy's life unfolds in a lyrical recollection told to the young boy, swinging from scenes in the present in her sitting room back to the distant past when she was girl and first fell in love.
This is a gorgeous story that reads like a ...more
Maddy's life unfolds in a lyrical recollection told to the young boy, swinging from scenes in the present in her sitting room back to the distant past when she was girl and first fell in love.
This is a gorgeous story that reads like a ...more
I am not generally a big fan of Sonya Hartnett. It's not that I don't appreciate the skill of her writing, I just never feel emotionally connected to her books. (Apart from "Forest", which was about cats, not people. I think I have a problem with her oft-times misanthropic take on humanity.)
Anyway, I didn't expect to care for "The Ghost's Child" any better than I had (most of) her other novels, and it's true that when I started the book, I felt quite disconnected,...more
Anyway, I didn't expect to care for "The Ghost's Child" any better than I had (most of) her other novels, and it's true that when I started the book, I felt quite disconnected,...more
Gorgeously written and managing to be at the same time both warmly human and puzzlingly mythical, this book is not easy to categorize. It will probably be of most interest to older teens and adults, as the main character is an old woman named Maddy looking back at events - and a relationship - that happened to her as a teen and young woman.
There are fairy-tale elements (Maddy's young man, whom she calls Feather, is an otherworldly sort of person) and moments when (as during the figh...more
There are fairy-tale elements (Maddy's young man, whom she calls Feather, is an otherworldly sort of person) and moments when (as during the figh...more
This was a fable :) I really liked Maddy, but with Feather I have some bones to pick. I do not get "Truth" from Feather the way Maddy did. I get isolation and omission. Maddy mentions that maybe it would have been better had she never met Feather. Personally, I'm in that camp. Maybe I'm too much of a realist. But come on! What did he bring to the table, really? He was mopey and impossible to communicate with, and dare I say it, PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE. And when she loses the Fay, wha...more
I am quite ambivalent about this book. On the one hand it was lovely seeing Sonya Hartnett put her beautiful sentences in such a, well, nice book. But it didn't quite feel entirely authentic, maybe because I am so used to her bleakness (I find her bleak novels devastatingly beautiful as well). The true strength of this novel is how true its core is: it is a fantastic novel about what first love feels like, about how utterly consuming love can be, and yet how learning to live without love, whilst...more
I’d only read one of Sonya Hartnett’s books previously, Shadows of the Side-Step Wolf, which is a young adult novel I read in high school. I was curious to read more and with my track record with book covers to go by there was no way I could go past this one given it's lovely illustrations.
I’m so pleased to say the book lived up to its gorgeous cover by being an eerily beautiful story. I love how Sonya Hartnett turns the Australian bush and beach into a fairytale setting - unique...more
I’m so pleased to say the book lived up to its gorgeous cover by being an eerily beautiful story. I love how Sonya Hartnett turns the Australian bush and beach into a fairytale setting - unique...more
The Ghost's Child by Sonya Hartnett is about a young boy who mysteriously shows up at an old woman's house when she returns home. They soon start to talk and the old woman tells her story of how her life was, which would answer whatever questions the young boy had for he even though HE was the one who came to her home uninvited.
I made a text to self connection while reading this book. Just like this old woman, I've tried to be kind and gentle, laughing and smiling all the time like my...more
I made a text to self connection while reading this book. Just like this old woman, I've tried to be kind and gentle, laughing and smiling all the time like my...more
Another deep one from Harntnett. It was a very quick read and I always wanted to pick it up and see what was going to happen next. I don't see too many teens enjoying it for plot or characterization. But I do think the writing is exquisite and teens can definitely enjoy that!
This book encompasses love and loss in a way that I didn't believe possible! Great for ages 12 and up I would suspect but could go a little lower. This is a must read for everyone and especially adults. Don't let the little book throw you off, it is packed full with a powerful impact! You will appreciate your life for what it is and be glad for even your littlest mistakes made along the way of life. Realization is the first step to accepting that life might not be as bad as you believe. Listen t...more
An old lady comes home to find a strange boy in her lounge room and then she tells him her life story, only her life story has some fantasy elements to it, even though it would seem that she lives in the same world as us. I don't know if the reader was supposed to assume that the protagonist was going a little crazy at points, but then you think that that would have been explained, seeing as the story was being told by the lady after she had lived through everything.
I cried while re...more
I cried while re...more
What a journey! A boy appears on an old woman's sofa... over tea and biscuits, she tells him about her life. The pain, the love, the losses, the joy - all is exposed. Who is this boy? Why is he there to listen to this old woman relive her memories? This novel help will encourage you to think about your own life and the choices you've made, as well as the next road you will take. Sonya Hartnett is a brilliant Australian writer, and 'The Ghost's Child' is truly deserving of the CBCA Book of the Ye...more
'The Ghost's Child' ~ Sonya Hartnett
This book was about beautiful things - and so much more - and that is just what it was - and so much more.
It was about love, and it was about grief - and the imprint they both leave on you. It was about the tedium of familiarity, but also the comfort of it. It was about an endless love, and how quickly it was over. It was about drowning without hope, about resurfacing victoriously - even if you didn't feel it at the time. It was about the sim...more
This book was about beautiful things - and so much more - and that is just what it was - and so much more.
It was about love, and it was about grief - and the imprint they both leave on you. It was about the tedium of familiarity, but also the comfort of it. It was about an endless love, and how quickly it was over. It was about drowning without hope, about resurfacing victoriously - even if you didn't feel it at the time. It was about the sim...more
I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this. Very pretty writing, very out-of-the-ordinary and a really beautiful tale.
I really don't know know quite yet what to think about this book. The language is beautiful and the story is thought provoking but I am not sure if a teen will pick it up or if they do, will they finish it to it's lovely but sort of heartbreaking conclusion. Teens (and adults) for whom language is the doorway will love it but others, hmmm, maybe not so much. At the very least it has given me a new favorite quote: "Yet how, she wondered, does one craft sturdy happiness out of something as...more
This was a very odd tale from the start. I began to question the book description after the first half of the book. I then fell into the actual tale, though it was a bit confusing and hard to follow. Matty is a very interesting character, but I did not feel as though I true knew her character in the story. It was just that, a story that I followed her throughout her journey. While this does not turn me away from the story I did not feel the emotion and heartfelt story that I believe this author ...more
This is another of those books that make me wonder why they're classified as Young Adult. The protagonist is 75, visited one day by a boy who is described as very physically there, crunching biscuits he doesn't like, but who we know is supernatural. As Matilda remembers her childhood and youth as Maddy, he resists hearing about love ("It's stupid!") but listens anyway. The third-person narration makes it possible to forget that he is listening and she is remembering--we experience the ...more
I'm not sure what to make of this novel, or what to take away from it. It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all? Love is fleeting for some but enduring for others? It's okay to pine after your great lost love for years and years?
The main character Maddy had two great loves in her life: her father and Feather. She did not love either of her parents until she and her father spent a year at sea. Her father became a different man when he was away from her mothe...more
The main character Maddy had two great loves in her life: her father and Feather. She did not love either of her parents until she and her father spent a year at sea. Her father became a different man when he was away from her mothe...more
Reviewed by Ashley B for TeensReadToo.com
Matilda comes home one day to find a young boy sitting on her sofa. They have tea, and she tells him about her past. At that time, she went by Maddy, and she longed for a fairy tale life.
When Maddy finished school, she came home to her family's house by the sea. Her father asked her what she thought the most beautiful thing in the world was. She answered, "sea eagles." Her father decided that the two of them together wou...more
Matilda comes home one day to find a young boy sitting on her sofa. They have tea, and she tells him about her past. At that time, she went by Maddy, and she longed for a fairy tale life.
When Maddy finished school, she came home to her family's house by the sea. Her father asked her what she thought the most beautiful thing in the world was. She answered, "sea eagles." Her father decided that the two of them together wou...more
Sonya Hartnett’s The Ghost’s Child is a story of love and loss. Told in beautiful prose, the novel starts with an aging Matilda (Maddy) as she recounts her life story to a young boy that suddenly appeared on her doorstep. Maddy starts with her story about growing up in a well-to-do family with an “iron man” of a father who was more concerned with earning money and an absent mother who spent her time with her friends and charities than with Maddy. An only child, Maddy grew up in solitude becoming...more
Hartnett, Sonya. 2008. The Ghost's Child. Releases October 14, 2008.
"An exquisite fable about love and loss by the author of the Michael L. Printz Honor Book Surrender."
It's important for readers to realize they're holding a fable in their hands. It will help explain some of the strangeness for one thing. If they're not trying to make it fit reality. Not that the book is unrealistic--it has its moments of course--but it's a blended reality meets fantasy. It has ...more
"An exquisite fable about love and loss by the author of the Michael L. Printz Honor Book Surrender."
It's important for readers to realize they're holding a fable in their hands. It will help explain some of the strangeness for one thing. If they're not trying to make it fit reality. Not that the book is unrealistic--it has its moments of course--but it's a blended reality meets fantasy. It has ...more
The Ghost's Child: A poorly-written review with digressions!
Matilda is already an old woman when she comes home to find a young boy relaxing on her couch, clearly waiting for her. Over the course of the afternoon, she tells him the story of how she came to be who she is--her way of refuting the boy’s disappointed accusation that she has gotten old. How she arrived at this place in her life--elderly, serene, at peace--was a long process of travel and adventure, of falling in love and...more
Matilda is already an old woman when she comes home to find a young boy relaxing on her couch, clearly waiting for her. Over the course of the afternoon, she tells him the story of how she came to be who she is--her way of refuting the boy’s disappointed accusation that she has gotten old. How she arrived at this place in her life--elderly, serene, at peace--was a long process of travel and adventure, of falling in love and...more
Miss Kitty
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people who think deep thoughts and like short novels
Recommended to Miss Kitty by:
ALA publisher
Matilda comes home from walking her dog one chilly afternoon and finds an odd boy, gray-eyed boy waiting for her. Her visit with him triggers powerful memories told in a parable-esque story about her lonely childhood with a cold, snobby mother, and distant, workaholic father. She also recalls finding and losing her one true love, a blissfully wild man she calls, I kid you not, Feather. Feather squelched his wanderlust and yen for talking to seagulls and agreed to live in a tranquil cottage in...more
The Ghost's Child was tender, fierce, whimsical, and gently heartbreaking. I cried a lot when I read it, and I'm tearing up now just remembering, but in the best way. It was a very different experience than Hartnett's last book, Surrender, but just as good (if you liked Surrender--I did) or much better (if you didn't like Surrender). If you love stories about young women finding their way, or if you just love stories, read this book.
Beautiful and haunting, lyrical, whimsical, but utterly real, Hartnett's novel captures the beauty and heartbreak of romance in a masterful way. This atypical fairytale will enchant its readers as they follow Maddy's story and her quest to find out the mysteries of beauty, life, and love. The journey is as wonderful as the answers sought and an infinite pleasure to read, a gem among young adult explorations into similar topics.
Full review at my blog: http://splinteredfragmentsoflight.blogsp...
Full review at my blog: http://splinteredfragmentsoflight.blogsp...
I picked this up because I'm a sucker for girl-entangled-by-sea stories. It's a blend of surrealism and an ordinary life.
An old woman comes home to find a boy, unknown and unexpected, sitting there. She offers him tea; he eats her biscuits, even though he prefers them with jam. Then she tells him a story.
I liked little things about this: the nargun, the mirror. Less, the sweeping themes.
An old woman comes home to find a boy, unknown and unexpected, sitting there. She offers him tea; he eats her biscuits, even though he prefers them with jam. Then she tells him a story.
I liked little things about this: the nargun, the mirror. Less, the sweeping themes.
Poetically written magical realism. In this young adult novel, an old woman arrives home to her cottage by the sea and discovers a boy of around eleven or twelve sitting in her living room. Over tea, she tells him the remarkable story of her life. This book works on many levels--and deals with age old archetypal themes: longing, beauty, truth, to name a few.
It's almost magical the way Feather, a mysterious young man, comes into Maddy's life. Soon the two begin a life together, but Feather is growing increasingly distant, spending more and more time on a deserted beach staring at the horizon. Then shortly after the loss of their unborn child, Feather disappears as mysteriously as he appeared. Maddy begins a quest to find where he went and why...but what she really ends up finding is herself.
I found this in Leavitt's library. I am trying to read more from the Leavitt collection so I can make more recommendations to my students. I am really glad I found this book and I can't wait to recommend it to a student! I didn't know it would be a fable and I didn't figure that out until I was halfway through the book. There were some parts that were slow while I was reading it, but I am glad I got through it because I just love the message I got at the end, and I love Hartnett's voice and ...more
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Sonya Hartnett (also works under the pseudonym Cameron S. Redfern) is, or was, something of an Australian child prodigy author. She wrote her first novel at the age of thirteen, and had it published at fifteen. Her books have also been published in Europe and North America. Her novels have been published traditionally as young adult fiction, but her writing often crosses the divide and is also enj...more
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“Love is like moonlight or thunder, or rain on a tin roof in the middle of the night; it is one of those things in life that is truly worth knowing.”
—
18 people liked it
“I want my life to be mystifying," she declared, although she didn't know what she meant.”
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16 people liked it
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