"The Uninvited," by Dorothy Macardle

Originally published in 1942 and republished in 2015 by Tramp Press, this Irish novel is one of the most engrossing books I've read this year. Macardle's writing style — imaginative, fresh, descriptive — was the initial attraction for me. The story soon became the stronger current, however, as I followed a brother and sister who impulsively buy an uninhabited house on the coast of Devon at a suspiciously low price and begin the process of fashioning lives that are more creative and satisfying than the ones they've left behind in London.

Cliff End is beautiful, gracious, and troubled. The narrator and his sister quickly grow to love and then fear the house. They will not abandon it before sifting through the layers of history and hauntings there to uncover the connections between the ghostly phenomena they experience and their young neighbor, Stella, whose grandfather exerts a powerful control over her.

The house itself is a vivid character, both sunny and spooky, and Macardle's consideration of creativity in the main characters' and their friends' choices is fascinating. Come October, I will hunt down this book on my shelves, flip through the sections I've marked, and then begin Chapter I again.

Susan Borden, St. Paul

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