Title: The Swallow: A Ghost Story
Author: Charis Cotter
Publish Date: September 9, 2014
Rating: ☕ ☕ ☕ ☕ I know I keep saying this but I’m going to say it again – I have gotten so many excellent middle grade books this summer. And here is another one! The Swallow is a wonderful story about friendship and love. First we meet outgoing Polly and learn about her large family and noisy house. There are two things twelve-year-old Polly wants more than anything: 1. To get her room back from baby Susie and 2. To see a real ghost. Next we meet the quiet Rose. She rarely speaks and glides through life invisible to everyone – except for the ghosts that have haunted her since she was a baby. It was a shared attic wall that brought them together and a mysterious tombstone in the cemetery next to their houses that changed their lives forever.
Polly is such a great character. She is completely honest about her feelings and you can feel her excitement over ghosts and cemeteries. Sometimes her enthusiasm can be annoying and I clearly felt that during the sections where Rose was the narrator. Rose is my favorite character. She is quiet, introspective, and she is not happy that she can see ghosts, in fact it terrifies her. Her serious nature makes it hard for her to keep up with Polly’s enthusiasm for everything, but soon she becomes caught up in Polly’s pace and begins to rely on her for support while they work to discover the secret behind the tombstone.
I really enjoyed reading this. The story is told through alternating viewpoints. Sometimes this can stall a story or make it confusing but each section clearly labels the narrator. Although both girls are so different that it would have been easy to tell who was narrating without being told. The mystery at the center of the story was well executed, although a bit drawn out at times. I’m not going to pretend that I didn’t see the twist coming – this is, after all, a ghost story; but a younger reader who hasn’t read many mysteries or ghost stories may be surprised. Overall it was a lovely ghost story (You don’t see many of those!) and I can’t wait to read more from Charis Cotter.
**NetGalley provided me with an advanced reader copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.**
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