What's the Name of That Book??? discussion
This topic is about
The Whitby Witches
SOLVED: Children's/YA
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SOLVED. Fantasy or Horror(?) Three book series where some plucky orphans are sent to live with an old woman and then the old woman's friends start dying in mysterious ways. [s]
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How old were the orphans, teenagers or younger children?
Rainbowheart wrote: "How old were the orphans, teenagers or younger children?"I believe they were younger children - the oldest one may have been 13, but I feel like they were both younger than that.
I believe I can bump this because it's been more than 30 days?
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If you remember new details, you can add them at any time.
I don't know that I remember anything else, unfortunately - or at least not that I can add off the top of my head.
Bumping this up (we're in 2021 now!) - I really can't think of anything to add to this - maybe it would be better if I changed the title? I'm pretty sure it was British and one more thing I remember is that in the conclusion of the last book the parents of the orphans came back to life (I may be wrong about this, but I remember thinking it was absurd at the time... if there are other books where this happens it's possible that I am mixing that up as well).
It's not that one unfortunately! Even though I read it in 6th or 7th grade, I get the feeling that I probably should have been a few years older when I sat down and tried to read it. Thanks though!
Bumping again - I'm probably reiterating some details but here's what I remember about it today:1 - These two kids (girl's name was maybe Joy? Maybe there were three kids?) are either orphans or in foster care. They get sent to this little village (in Cornwall maybe? Near the ocean?) where they live with this little old ladies who's like active but knits, too. She has like four or five other old lady friends and all of them start being killed off in weird ways - one was pushed down this big stairs (to nowhere, I think? I know the steps featured in other books in the series - maybe the main old lady had to climb it one time and it was dramatic?), and I remember one scene after a death all the old ladies were hugging and the author mentioned how one old lady's allergies were acting up even though the other little old lady was absolutely covered in cat hair). Anyway, by the end there were two ladies left alive, the main one and another one (maybe the one with all the cats? Either way one of the little old ladies had a cat or a lot of cats and it was constantly mentioned how she was covered in cat hair).
It turns out there's some ancient evil in the area. It also turns out there are these magic creatures living under the beach and at one point one of them has a viking funeral. In the last book the old lady dies and then somehow the orphan children's parents come back to life and pick them up and I think that's how it ends?
It was definitely like in the horror franchise; I read it probably in about 1996/1997 and three books were released by then - I'm guessing maybe it was originally released in the 80's? I don't know why I'm saying it was intended for kids - maybe because there were kid main characters? Or I read it in 6th/7th grade? Or it was at my school library? It was probably for teenagers? Maybe one of the kids was a teenager?
Anyway, just asking - hopefully somebody has an idea? Or this makes them remember it?
Unfortunately none of them look familiar! I think foster care is maybe the wrong word - they may have been sent to live with a great-aunt or a friend of the families or something - they'd never met before but there was a reason they went there... I can't remember what it was, though. So not technically "foster care" in that sense, more like they're being placed with somebody to care for them, as her wards or something.
You seriously have a million good details! Someone should know this one. Are you pretty sure it's a UK setting?
I'm not 100% positive, but I'm assuming it is - I was a student at an international school when I initially read it, and most of the books came from the UK. I could be wrong; I just know there was a seaside setting, because one of the later books in the trilogy had to do with a viking funeral or something... and I think there were maybe caves near the water people lived in? I could be making all of that up, I guess, my main memory is on the old ladies and them dying. The cover may have been some weird creature? Not sure.
Oh! The bit about the steep stairs jogged a long-buried memory in me and I think this is The Whitby Witches by Robin Jarvis - the Wikipedia page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Whi...) has a pretty detailed plot summary. I remember loving this series but had completely forgotten the story. I'm impressed at how much you remember!
Becca wrote: "Oh! The bit about the steep stairs jogged a long-buried memory in me and I think this is The Whitby Witches by Robin Jarvis - the Wikipedia page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Whi..."OMG YES! THIS IS IT! As soon as I opened the Wikipedia page and saw the picture of the book I knew it was the right one - and looking at the wikipedia entry for the rest of the series I'm sure it's correct.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Also - sorry for taking so long to respond to this - I was out of the country without access to Goodreads and I only got back in yesterday. This is awesome - I'm so glad you remembered the name!
I'm surprised at how much stuck with me too, to be honest - I remember really loving them as a kid and going through them so fast. Thank you thank you thank you!
This has been SOLVED - the title of the book is The Whitby Witches (the trilogy as a whole is The Whitby Witches Trilogy and the other two books in the series are A Warlock in Whitby and The Whitby Child.Thanks so much to Becca for finding it for me!
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Haha, 'Becca-pedia' is a great word! glad I could help.
Yay, super glad this one is solved. Good job, Becca.
What's the Name of That Book???
Books mentioned in this topic
The Whitby Witches (other topics)The Whitby Witches (other topics)
Harry and the Wrinklies (other topics)
It was a British series (I believe - I was at an international school and most of the books were British). I remember each book felt quite long, like 400-500 pages (but I was in 6th/7th grade at the time so who knows).
What I remember: A young girl and boy are orphaned and go live in a seaside town/village with an older woman. The woman had a group of friends and all of them were in their 80's - I remember one of the friends had a bunch of cats and was always covered in cat hair, and another one walked up a really long, steep staircase every day to get her exercise.
Anyway, strange things happened, and all of the old woman's friends began to get killed off - I remember there was a funeral scene where they were all crying and hugging and one of the women who had allergies to cats wasn't sneezing even though she was being hugged by the friends with all the cats covered in cat hair. I think it turned out that there was some evil thing that was killing everybody off and only the old woman the orphans were living with and one of her friends survived.
There were also some like gnome-like creatures living in caves or in tunnels under the streets? One of the chapters in a later book may have had a picture of one of the gnomes carrying a sack that she put things in because she was an outcast? I remember there was a viking funeral when one of them died (a lot of them died, there may have been a battle at one point).
All I really remember about the last book is that the old woman who was taking care of them finally died and somehow the orphans' parents came back to life? One of the orphans may have been named Jane? Or that was the name of one of the old ladies? That's probably not helpful. I think the other little old lady did survive but I'm not sure. I do remember being really upset that the old lady died at the very end of the book.
I don't know what age range this was for. I was in middle school when I read these, but I think they may have been for older teenagers/adults - I distinctly remember that the main characters, at least in the first book, were a bunch of little old ladies and that the orphans were sad, but by the end they loved whoever ended up taking care of them. The only scene I really remember was the funeral/wake (described above), the fact that one of the old ladies was pushed down that long tall cliffside staircase, and that there was some sort of burning boat. I really don't remember much about the orphans but they probably had some sort of purpose.
Also, I think that all of the books were paperback at that point? And it may have been in Cornwall or something similar to Cornwall? (That part I'm not so sure of). I'm pretty sure it was probably some sort of eldritch horror fantasy, not necessarily a mystery. Again, I'm going off of a memory that's 23 or 24 years old, and these books have to be older than that.
Hopefully some of this is helpful.