YA girl moves in with aunt and there's a haunted tree

[Aimee]

This book was around in the 80s, so it is an older book. Young adult. A girl moves to a coastal town to live with her aunt. There was a tree and either the tree or the house or both were haunted. There may have been a room with a pool. I know it is not much to go on but I am hoping someone can help!

[LeeAnn]

This sounds somewhat similar to a book I just had someone help me find. Could it possibly be And The Trees Crept In by Dawn Kurtagich?

[Sue]

The Children of Green Knowe? The protagonist is a boy, but there is a "demon tree" called Green Noah".https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&r...

[Aimee]

LeeAnn wrote: "This sounds somewhat similar to a book I just had someone help me find. Could it possibly be And The Trees Crept In by Dawn Kurtagich?"

That sounds like a great book, but the one I am trying to think of would have been written prior to 1988 and this one was written in 2016 I think!

[Aimee]

Sue wrote: "The Children of Green Knowe? The protagonist is a boy, but there is a "demon tree" called Green Noah".https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&r......"

That sounds so good - but this one took place in the south and near the coast.

[Rainbowheart]

Fox Hill?

The Guardian Circle?

Behind the Attic Wall?

[Aimee]

Rainbowheart wrote: "Fox Hill?

The Guardian Circle?

Behind the Attic Wall?"
I feel like we might be getting closer! Do you know if Fox Hill had a tree that the girl thought was haunted/had spanish moss/looked eerie? And/or if it was on the coast? It was not the the other two, I do not think, but there WAS a boy!

[Rainbowheart]

Afraid not, but I did find a couple of reviews with more plot info!

Lily Simms, orphaned at 17, must go to live with her elderly Aunt Ruth in a lonely English vicarage. The two are thrown together strictly through need and duty. Betty, a kind and cheerful housekeeper, serves as a buffer between them. The dominant figure in the novel is Martin, an adopted boy who died at age 20 but whose spirit remains to haunt Lily's aunt and who quickly establishes a powerful hold over Lily as well. Worth uses Keats' poetry to introduce each chapter. This effective technique creates just the right mood as the plot develops, and the result is a superb mix of Keats' poetry and Worth's prose. The story moves quickly, and a dramatic climax occurs when Lily, in a meeting with Martin's ghost, breaks away from his magnetic hold. The ending brings a promise of happier times for all in the vicarage. A welcome addition for fans of gothic novels.

A Gothic novel with a touch of fantasy. Left penniless and alone in the world, 17-year-old Lily dreads the prospect of living with misanthropic Aunt Ruth, her only relative. The one bright spot in Lily's new life is housekeeper Betty, who tells the girl about her aunt's sad past, which includes a lost love and the untimely death of Martin, a much beloved child raised in the household. Lily is fascinated by the stories about Martin, and she becomes obsessed with making contact with him. Her fancies lead her to imagine that he is trying to communicate with her--and she becomes lost in a world of mystery and melancholy. Lily is abruptly shocked out of her obsession when she almost falls from the window where Martin toppled to his death. In a classic happy ending, she develops a warm relationship with her aunt, and she is even provided with a potential love interest when the family of a handsome young gentleman who lives nearby invites her to tea. This intriguing book is not entirely successful--the plot is thin and insubstantial, even for a novel of this type. It is written in the elegant and formal style of a 19th-century novel which, though it may be difficult for some readers, perfectly suits the mood of the story. And the style and use of poetry as chapter headings give the book an interest beyond the usual escapist fare of this genre.

[Aimee]

Darn it. I don't think this is the one! Thank you for all the detail though!

[Rainbowheart]

No worries, we'll keep looking!

Do you think the girl was high school age?

[mdt]

Mystery of the Haunted Pool by Phyllis A. Whitney?

[Aimee]

Rainbowheart wrote: "No worries, we'll keep looking!

Do you think the girl was high school age?"
Yes! Around 15 - 17 ish!

[Rainbowheart]

A Traveller in Time?

A young girl goes to live with her aunt in a remote ancient farmhouse and finds herself travelling back in time to join the lives of the Babington family and watching helplessly as tragic events bring danger to her friends and the downfall of their heroine, Mary, Queen of Scots, whom they are seeking to rescue.

[Aimee]

Rainbowheart wrote: "A Traveller in Time?

A young girl goes to live with her aunt in a remote ancient farmhouse and finds herself travelling back in time to join the lives of the Babington family and wa..."

Darn, not the one. The one we are trying to remember took place in the Southern US because we remember spanish moss. Thank you so much for helping solve this!

[Aimee]

mdt wrote: "Mystery of the Haunted Pool by Phyllis A. Whitney?"

Oh my goodness! I will check this one out as it has a lot of the same elements!

[Capn]

Aimee wrote: "mdt wrote: "Mystery of the Haunted Pool by Phyllis A. Whitney?"

Oh my goodness! I will check this one out as it has a lot of the same elements!"

It's on OpenLibrary - can browse!

https://openlibrary.org/works/OL60460...

A warm and winning story that turns into a mystery, made to order for the preteens. Susan Price has been sent ahead of her family to an aunt who has an antique shop in Highlands Landing, way up to the Hudson. Susan and her aunt tuck themselves into Aunt Edith's crowded quarters while a search for a house for the family is on. And in the process the 12-year old girl stumbles on to a mystery.... In today's setting, history, melodrama and a wholesome sense of normal life combine to make this an above average mystery for this age group.

(Borrowed it briefly to double-check - Hudson River, New York State. No Spanish Moss/Old Man's Beard. Here's the only moss reference:
pg 22 - where the earth was bare of leaves, there was a green-velvet covering of moss. Almost at once the woods closed aromid her and the air was still except for the rustle of a breeze in the treetops far above. She had a feeling that all her city-deadened senses were opening to this lovely smnmer morning in the woods. She reached out to touch the rough bark of a tree and then upward to let a green tuft of pine prickle the tips of her fingers. And she Hstened with delight to sounds she was just learning to distinguish. When she was quiet she could hear the faint plunk of pine needles dropping. Now and then birds chattered, and there was a faint sound of humming insects all about.)

But - tree detail: - Page 32

As she walked toward the rear of the house, meaning to circle it before she went up the front walk, she was stopped once more by the sight of a most curious tree. It seemed to be growing up- side down. From its high, uppermost tip, all its branches grew downward, instead of up. They trailed thick and blue-dark clear to the groimd, closing around the trunk like the sloping sides of a tent. She had never seen such a tree, and it amazed and interested her. Behind those drooping branches there must be a hidden place close to the trunk —a secret, shaded place, shielded completely from view

where 'groimd' is presumably ground XD

[Aimee]

Wow!! This is great - thank you so much!! I will think on it and let everyone know!!

[Aimee]

No, sorry - this one is not it. Darn! Am still checking the Fox Hill book though!

[mdt]

Here's another one to eliminate: T.J.'s Ghost by Shirley Climo

and: The Ghost in the Swing by Janet Patton Smith

Here's a Kirkus review of Fox Hill: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...

[Capn]

Stumbled on a younger one, but just in case:
Nothing Said

Before the visit with her mother's friend had ended, Libby saw the dryads and water nymphs that lived near the house

[Genesistrine]

Long Lankin?

[Kris]

Note: Aimee (OP) was last active on the site in May 2023.