The Haunting of Nathaniel Wolfe

Nathaniel Wolfe #1

by Brian Keaney

In the first supernatural mystery in the Nathaniel Wolfe series, 12-year-old Nathaniel doesn't believe in spirits—but he'll soon be forced to change his mind   Up there on the stage beside his father was a shadow, a shape, blurred at first but becoming clearer with every passing moment until finally he was looking at the figure of a woman, dressed in a long white robe. Her eyes were the palest blue and they were fixed directly on him. With every fibre of his being he knew her for what she a ghost. Hers was a life that had departed its earthly body but was not yet prepared to release its grip on the world for ever. There was unfinished business she yet had to perform. But why, out of all the millions of individuals on the face of the planet had she chosen him for her haunting? It's seven o'clock on a cold London evening in 1862, and in a grubby theater down by the docks, Nathaniel Wolfe watches his father—the greatest medium in London—take to the stage. Which of the dead will speak through him tonight? What Nathaniel doesn't know is that his father is meddling with things he cannot control, and before the night is over Nathaniel will find himself in the middle of a chilling mystery, one that can only be solved from beyond the grave.

Genres: Mystery, Ghosts, Historical Fiction, Historical Fantasy, Fantasy, Middle Grade, Book Club

240 pages, Paperback

First published August 7, 2008

About the author

Brian writes novels for adults, young adults and children. HIs latest novel for adults is The Alphabet of Heart's Desire (Holland House Books), based on an incident in the life of the nineteenth century writer and opium addict, Thomas De Quincey

Reviews

[Sherri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Twelve-year-old Nathaniel Wolfe struggles to survive in Victorian London and desires to escape his abusive, alcoholic father. Nathaniel’s father, Cicero, is gaining fame as the greatest medium in England who has weekly shows where he supposedly speaks for those who have died. Nathaniel’s job is to collect the admission fee for the shows and help set things up; he is one of the few that knows that Cicero is a fake and uses information collected by his partner, Mrs. Gaunt, who works the crowd before each show. Life changes for Nathaniel one week when he befriends a young housemaid, Lily, and sees an actual ghost for the first time. After Lily experiences a ghostly encounter of her own, they realize their strange occurrences are connected. Nathaniel and Lily begin investigating to determine what the ghost wants them to do and quickly find themselves on an adventure to solve the mystery before things turn deadly. This middle grade novel will appeal to those who like their mysteries supernatural, but it is not fast-paced enough for reluctant readers.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up on a whim, initially thinking it was a book for adults with a cool cover. However, it's a children's book, and so I will rate it taking this into account.

The atmosphere of the book was quite good at times, particularly near the beginning. Furthermore, it deals with interesting themes of exploitation of the poor and vulnerable and truthfulness quite well. Nevertheless, I found that, while child abuse and alcoholism were quite large themes, these were not really explored as well as could have. Nevertheless, I found that the characters themselves were quite well-rounded, in spite of some of them being quite the stereotypical "Hagrid"-type strong but loving adult, and the old and wise man, etc. Still, I found Nathaniel an excellent character.

My main problem with this book, apart from its partial predictability which is probably due to me not being in the age range, is that the pacing felt quite a bit off. I was expecting the entire novel to go into the mystery of the ghost and what it wanted, but I felt this was a bit under-explored (though I found the descriptions of the ghost-experience quite interesting and well-done). Furthermore, I felt that the conclusion of the mystery, where they finally found out how everything was, was not done in the best way: I think the entire theory which turned out to be completely true on first guess was explored in less than two pages, before that it was kind of slow, and afterwards I felt everything wasn't even resolved propery, but rather very much rushed. Especially near the ending, when the main plot is resolved, I felt that it wasn't really rounded off and just immediately skipped to a moment much later.

This book had its positives and negatives, but I think the story in general would be quite entertaining, exciting and maybe a little but not too scary for a child. It seems to be quite a good but very mild introduction into more supernatural or horror-y tales.

[Cynthia Egbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of those books that was on display in the children's area of the library when I went in looking for another book and it caught my eye. It was a decent ghost story with elements of Dickens in some of the characters and settings. I was disappointed in the portrayal of the city of London, I just didn't feel that London feeling but I did like the characters and the happy ending. It was a quick read and so if there are further adventures of Nathaniel Wolfe, I would be interested in reading them. I appreciated the author's description of hell, "Hell was not a place full of fire and brimstone where devils tormented their victims with pitchforks. Hell was a desire to change something in life when you were no longer living. Hell was an unfinished business that would not let a spirit rest. Hell was a claim that the dead still had upon the living."

[Yami · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this kind of simple stories...and I liked Nathanial as much as I hated his father...the plot is very simple, and feels like one part of the "sixth sense" movie
Nathanael ability was unexplained . as why him But the sequence of events does fit, so no complain

[Julia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Niestety zawiodłam się. Zakończenie przewidywalne. Zero emocji. Rzadko kiedy daję tylko 1 gwiazdkę. Bardzo denerwująco wykreowane postacie.

[delikurnik · Rating 2 out of 5]

w sumie taka baja dla dzieci xd myślę że 12letniej mi mogłoby się spodobac :D

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

It works. It's not great but it's not bad either. A short, breezy read.

[krysia · Rating 3 out of 5]

tbh słabe

[Morgane · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't even finish it with the plot being so obvious right from the start. I suppose it could be quite nice for children, though.

[Rolaka Pisarka · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://rolakatalog.blogspot.com/2016...
Rok 1862, Londyn. Milczący ludzie stoją w kolejce do podrzędnego teatrzyku na londyńskim East Endzie. Zimno. Chłód przenika do szpiku kości, jednak nikt nie rezygnuje. Przyszli tu, bo wierzą, że będą mogli porozmawiać ze swoimi zmarłymi bliskimi. Dwunastoletni Nathaniel pobiera przy drzwiach opłatę za wstęp. Dla niego to tylko praca. Chłopiec nie wierzy w duchy. Wkrótce jednak coś się wydarzy i wtedy, przy pełnej sali i zamkniętych na głucho drzwiach, życie Nathaniela odmieni się na zawsze.
Książka już na samym początku od razu zwróciła moją uwagę, gdyż znalazłam ją nowiusieńką za 3 zł. Wzięłam z czystej ciekawości i może troszkę się zawiodłam, ale to jedynie moja wina.
Trzeba zaznaczyć, że jest to IDEALNA książka dla dzieci/młodzieży w wieku 10-12 lat. Jeśli ktoś poszukuje prezentu dla siostry/brata/dziecka, to „Straszna historia Nathaniela Wolfe’a” nadaje się do tego jak ulał. Dlaczego? To prosta historia o duchach, tajemnicach rezydencji i zbrodni. Można w skrócie powiedzieć, że to lekki kryminał dla dzieci, choć niektóre opisy radziłabym ominąć. (Chyba, bo trochę stara jestem i widząc dzisiejsze dzieciaki, to czasami zastanawiam się, w jakich czasach ja chodziłam do podstawówki, a było to zaledwie 10 lat temu…).
Główny bohater to ciekawa postać, która raczej się niczym nie wyróżnia. Dobrze mi się czytało pierwszą połowę książki, śledząc zawód Nathaniela, jego problemy i to jak dielnie znosił okrucieństwa życia. Dopiero zakończenie książki zniszczyło mi całe wyobrażenie o nim. Może to lekki spoiler, ale jego „sława” pod koniec książki było ostro naciągana, nierealna i doprowadzała mnie do szału. Przewijałam ostatnie strony z ogromną niechęcią.
Podsumowując, polecam. Ciekawa historia o duchach, ale należy podkreślić, że stanowczo dla dzieci/młodzieży. Dorosłym raczej może nie przypaść do gustu. Jest to historia naciągana, przewidywalna, ale przyjemnie się czytało.

[ivana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nathaniel Wolfe is the son and forced assistant of Cicero (formerly Henry) Wolfe, false spirit-medium, widower and drunkard. They live in a poorer area of London, Nathaniel often going hungry, and Cicero often stumbling home drunk, after the death of Louisa - Cicero's wife, and Nathaniel's mother - ended the career that Cicero and Louisa held together as stage performers.

One night, during a seance, Nathaniel experiences bone-chilling cold, and Sees a woman dressed completely in white. This woman, it turns out, has been murdered by husband, and together with Lily Campion, a girl who Nathaniel saves from attempted purse-nicking,they prevent the murder of Lily's Mistress, who is the daughter of the woman in white.

I enjoyed how neatly the ends tied together, but found them tied together a little too neatly. Some surprise would have been good, especially concerning plot predictability. Also good was that the character weren't dumb, but nor were they overly intelligent.

I didn't enjoy the way that Keaney tried to turn a simpler murder mystery into something grand and wonderful, by adding seances, drunkard fathers who later abandon their sons without a second thought, and a single occasion of child abuse. In my personal opinion, you need a little more to really get the story going. A meeting with a desperate Widowed Queen Victoria didn't help.

As a person that gets spooked at the smallest of things, this really didn't fulfill my expectations as a ghost-story.

[Colm McElwain · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Its setting was Victorian London and right from the start there is an eerie feel to the story. Nathaniel was a great protagonist and I was willing him to succeed throughout. It was quite a spooky book with the descriptions of the spirits appearing to Nathaniel throughout really adding a great deal of intrigue to the story. Nathaniel's father is a charlatan who preys on grieving family members of those who have passed. Then Nathaniel begins to see spirits for real and one particular spirit is trying to pass him on an important message. A great book for young and old alike.

[Tahlia · Rating 4 out of 5]

was a good book

[Rachel Hogan · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's okay, very boring, more of a children's book to be honest. I expected it to be a more intense book because of the title 'The haunting....' it would make an alright bedtime story for kids though.

[A Colleen Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read, looking forward to the next one!