SOLVED. YA Fantasy/Mystery, time travel? Boy with asthma meets (ghost) girl. His family moves to dead relative's house beside graveyard where he befriends mysterious girl. Finds old photographs of girl. Read in late 1980s/early 1990s. [s]

[Corinne]

Hello,

I hope maybe somebody who reads this post can help me find the title and/or author of a beloved childhood book I read in the late 80s or early 90s that I'm searching for quiet a long time. I'm German and it was a German, book but since the storyline was situated in another country (I think the U.S.), maybe I read a german translation of an Englisch author. To me it sounds almost like a book by Mary Downing Hahn, so if somebody knows this book I would be so happy! ;D

As far as I remember the book, the protagonist was a teenage boy who has severe asthma and in the beginning he moved with his family to his dead grandfather/or another relatives house. I thinks that this dead relative lived next to a graveyard and there the boy meets and befriends a mysterious girl who seem to appear and vanish out of the blue. Later he finds old photographs where the same girl he met is depicted and he thinks she is either a ghost or a timetraveler. I don't think they have a romantic relationship, but the whole book centers on the mystery of this dead relative (the grandfather?) and the (ghost) girl. I'm pretty sure there was also talk about time travel and in this story, the boy gets a pretty bad asthma attack and is carried to the hospital, but fortunately recovers. At the end of the book, the boy and his family move back home and in the last scene the boy drinks a Coke at the airport, although he knows he shouldn't do this.

Please, if someone knows the storyline, the book title or the author, I would appreciate your help! Thanks. ;)

[Rainbowheart]

Still looking, Corinne?

Appointment with a Stranger has ghosts and asthma, but I don't know if the rest fits.

[Corinne]

Thanks, Rainbowheart for your proposal. ;D Yes, I still haven't found it and I'm still searching!

Your proposed book includes all the right topics of the storyline that I can remember (ghosts, asthma), but the roles seem to be reversed (girl with asthma meets ghost boy).

[Kris]

Corinne, I added a few details to the topic header, so your book might be recognized from that description alone. Many members only read the headers.

Feel free to update it by clicking the small "edit" link after the header. This only works on the full Desktop website - not the Mobile website or app. (On the Mobile website, there's a "Desktop version" link at the bottom of the page.)

[Corinne]

Thank you, Kris! ;)

[Sue]

I think I've read this. The boy is staying at the house before joining his parents in the Middle East. He meets a girl called Moth, who turns out to be a ghost or similar, who tries to trap him into staying with her in the cemetery. (It's set in Brighton, where I live) At the end he is drinking Coke at the airport while waiting for his plane, and thinks he'll send a postcard of belly dancers to his school friend. I can't help with the title or author though.

[Kris]

You're welcome.

[Corinne]

Dear Sue: thank you very much!!! Thanks to your hints I finally found this book after 20 years ;) It's by Ann Halam. I just ordered the German version of it and can't wait to read it again after all this time ;D

Thank you all for your help!