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372nd out of 396 books
—
581 voters
A Candle in Her Room
Melissa was sure it was the doll, Dido, who brought evil to the family, not once, but again and again. Three generations were haunted by the strange wooden doll. Each time Dido came to light there was disaster and tragedy. What could be done to overcome the power of the doll? This is a book about many things: evil, the dimensions of reality, the flow of generations, and su...more
Paperback, 212 pages
Published
December 28th 1972
by MacMillan Publishing Company
(first published 1966)
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Mar 29, 2009
Abigail
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Ruth M. Arthur Fans / L.M. Boston Readers
Shelves:
childrens-fiction,
ruth-m-arthur
Review Temporarily Removed.
5/2011 Oh, how I love this book. It's tightly written, suspenseful without being terribly scary, haunting and utterly infused with a gentle love. It's rooted so deeply in its place that one comes away from it loving Pembrokeshire-as-was. Full of insights into obsession, forgiveness, family and above all love, this story is one of the classics. Scary haunted doll aside, there's just so much in this book that's rewarding. We learn about war, about cruelty and madness, about art and music and danci...more
7 likes · like · see review
Apr 03, 2009
Lisa Vegan
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
ages 11 & up, especially girls and women
Recommended to Lisa by:
Abigail
I loved the voices of the 3 girls/women over 3 generations whose voices told the story. The book is told is 4 sections, by Melissa, Dilys (Melissa’s neice), Melissa again, then Nina (Dily’s daughter and Melissa’s great neice). I was so attached to Melissa’s character that when it was Nina’s turn to tell the tale I occasionally briefly forgot it wasn’t Melissa anymore. All 3 of these characters are well drawn as are many others; I especially enjoyed Emmy’s character.
It’s an incredibly well writte...more
It’s an incredibly well writte...more
6 likes · like · see review
Perhaps Arthur's best known book and certainly the most unsettling. It begins:
"I suppose if we had not come to live in Pembrokeshire, Judith, Briony and I, this story would never have been written, for in another set of circumstances our lives might have run very differently. There would have been no Dido."
The story is about three generations of women who are haunted by an evil doll, and how it changes their lives.
"I suppose if we had not come to live in Pembrokeshire, Judith, Briony and I, this story would never have been written, for in another set of circumstances our lives might have run very differently. There would have been no Dido."
The story is about three generations of women who are haunted by an evil doll, and how it changes their lives.
3 likes · like · see review
Jan 11, 2009
Claire S
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
People who like a good scare - not children without adult reading first!
Recommended to Claire by:
5th grade teacher
I won a copy of this book in 5th grade, in relation to doing some number of book review. I've been haunted by it ever since!
This is one of the spookiest, most gripping things I've read. Of course - disclaimer - blood and gore are a whole different thing, this has none of that. So if that's 'gripping' for you, what I'm writing won't apply.
But it's about a doll that has ... an effect on people. And it traces that effect across multiple generations of a family that buys the house in which it resi...more
This is one of the spookiest, most gripping things I've read. Of course - disclaimer - blood and gore are a whole different thing, this has none of that. So if that's 'gripping' for you, what I'm writing won't apply.
But it's about a doll that has ... an effect on people. And it traces that effect across multiple generations of a family that buys the house in which it resi...more
In the fifth grade, I borrowed this book from my elementary school library. I don't remember what attracted me to it - the book had no dust jacket so it can't have been the cover, it was a fairly old book by 1995, and I don't think I asked for any help selecting it - but from that day to this, the tale of Melissa Mansell and her lifelong connection to a doll named Dido has stuck with me. When the singer Dido became popular in the early 2000s, this book was my first thought; when I discovered Ama...more
Evil doll? Haunted family? Welsh backdrop? What's not to love about this book? Don't read it the night before you have something important to do, though, as this story will keep you keep you awake from sheer terror.
Actually... I'm not sure I could say I LIKED this book. I read it only once, way back, and found it so creepy I never read it again. However, it has stuck with my memory, so I assume it is well-written so I can't give it a ho-hum-not-so-good two stars. (So many books SEEM good while I'm reading them, but then two days later I'm stuck for the heroine's name!) I have quite a few books by Ruth M. Arthur, but don't seem to have reread many. This one is the only major memory-sticker.
I read this book when I was in fifth grade in 1972...I am now 51 and could walk to the shelf in my grade school library and know its exact location. I think I checked this book out 10-12 times in the two years I went to that school. I loved the way the book focused on the lives of the children...as though what the adults were doing barely mattered. My husband bought me a copy for Christmas this year, read it through in one sitting and found it as good as ever.
Nov 28, 2008
Erica
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
People that like magic without too much fantasy.
One of my favorite novels when I was 12 or 13, though I don't usually go for stories of more than one generation. Some seriously creepy sections (not for children susceptible to nightmares!) but very exciting, very satisfying. Like most of R A Arthur, just a bit of magic set in everyday Great Britain.
I love Margery Gill's illustrations! She also did some of the early Susan Cooper books.
I love Margery Gill's illustrations! She also did some of the early Susan Cooper books.
I read this book so many times as a pre-teen! It was so eerie but totally believable, and somewhat foreign as well, hence exotic. The melancholy mood over missed happiness yet with redemption in the 3rd generation made for a terrific plot. This was definitely a childhood favorite.
As a child, I never realized that the book that so creeped me out was written by the same author as another favorite "Requiem for a Princess." I loved both these books at a time when most of my reading was almost exclusively focused on horses.
This was my absolute favorite book when I was a child. I checked it out of the Brown Library in Indianapolis several times a year. I found a copy online last year, very old, from the U.K., and I loved reading it again. Haunting, beautiful.
I read this book as a kid. I remember the title. I remember absolutely loving this book. The cover looks familiar. I can't remember the details of the plot but I have a fond feeling when I hear the name of the author and the name of the book.
I read this at least once in my early teens...to this day I'm not sure why our school library had this book on the shelves as it was much more supernatural than our parochial school would have allowed. Maybe the librarian never read it!
Thanks to my friend T, I've refound the book that scared the business oughta me in grade school. An evil wooden doll named Dido works her nasty mayhem on three generations of a family. I freaked out just seeing the cover again!
I read this when I was 10 or so and it always haunted me. I finally found a copy on ebay a few years ago and it was still pretty scary in parts!
I read this as a child and remembered being a bit freaked out by it so I sought it out as an adult to reread it. Definitely a bit spooky!
I read this book when I was 14 and I still remember how compelling it was! Could not put it down!
A doll who enchants and imprisons with malicious intent! Can anyone break free of her?
Holy ****, I completely forgot about this book. Dramatic and scary.
Love love love this book. Jane Eyre meets Jane Emily.
Jun 11, 2009
Ehbluemle Bluemle
added it
A candle in her room by Ruth M. Arthur (1966)
Very creepy. Never looked at dolls the same way again. lol
Nov 20, 2008
Kate
marked it as to-read
I must find this. It sounds excellent.
Scary but really great story!
One of my creepy childhood favorites, I remember reading this one dark night and being too afraid to fall asleep afterwords. It's either ESP or poltergeists or something like that.
love this author. discovered her when I had the ambition to read all the titles in the children's section of the library and started at A. love the Margery Gill illustrations about as much as the books.
Jun 24, 2012
Karen
added it
I loved rereading this book after fifteen some years. The flavor of the English seaside country of the past was what I enjoyed the most.
i read this novel in elementary school, and it has stayed with me ever since. the story of three generations of girls in one family, each touched by the sorcery of a doll that gets passed down among them. lives are forever and tragically changed, because of dido, until the youngest girl is finally able to overcome the curse.
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Working name of UK writer Ruth Mabel Arthur Higgins, long active as a children's author, her career beginning with Friendly Stories (collection, 1932). Most of her early work, like the Brownie sequence -- The Crooked Brownie (1936), The Crooked Brownie in Town (1942) and The Crooked Brownie at the Seaside (1942) is for younger children, but with Dragon Summer (1962) and A Candle in her Room (1966)...more
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