Scan barcode
snance's review
5.0
I read this when I was 10 or so and it always haunted me. I finally found a copy on ebay a few years ago and it was still pretty scary in parts!
situationnormal's review
3.0
Creepy doll books have been my jam lately, but A Candle In Her Room is a strange mix of multi-generational family drama and a vague sense of evil in the background of some war time horrors. I read it in one sitting, and was intrigued throughout, but it wasn't the creepy doll book I've been craving. The problem with multi-generational books is that, all too often, you connect more with some of the characters and time lines than others. And, for me, I connected least with the most present day and creepiest chapters. Overall, though, I flew through it and enjoyed the writing even if the story of the novel itself was too cyclical.
amyotheramy's review
4.0
Wow. I really hope the public library I grew up with got a nice chunk of change for their copy of this and didn't just have to trash it for wear and tear. I would really love to reread this book, but I don't know that it's $80 worth of love, if you see what I mean.
satyridae's review
5.0
5/2011 Oh, how I love this book. It's tightly written, suspenseful without being terribly scary, haunting and utterly infused with a gentle love. It's rooted so deeply in its place that one comes away from it loving Pembrokeshire-as-was. Full of insights into obsession, forgiveness, family and above all love, this story is one of the classics. Scary haunted doll aside, there's just so much in this book that's rewarding. We learn about war, about cruelty and madness, about art and music and dancing, about alienation and being embraced. The contrasts are telling and delicate. That's the best word for it, I think- delicate. It's a book painted on the inside of a fragile glass ball, painted with a brush two hairs wide. Highly recommended, even if you think you hate stories about evil dolls.
4/2007 Welsh spookiness, this one with an evil haunted doll, and the 3 generations of women who fall under her malevolent spell. The landscapes and supplemental characters are as lovingly drawn as the protagonists. I have loved this book for what seems like a hundred years, and it rewards every re-reading with something new.
4/2007 Welsh spookiness, this one with an evil haunted doll, and the 3 generations of women who fall under her malevolent spell. The landscapes and supplemental characters are as lovingly drawn as the protagonists. I have loved this book for what seems like a hundred years, and it rewards every re-reading with something new.
lieslindi's review
Not even pleasantly gothic or spooky. It's not terrible but I don't think it would have resonated with me if I had read it at the intended age: an old house in Wales should be even better than an old house in England but there was no ghost. I was hopeful about the seals but that was a bait-and-switch, and why would a courthouse be so far from a town, and why didn't Welsh Rees spell his name Rhys, and did Thursday Next float a picture of a kid in the firelit room, fixing the plot with some Interference Potion #9 as she did in The Eyre Affair?
I sought it out because it's a book that the protagonist of Ducks, Newburyportharkens to repeatedly, not as much as the Little House books but enough. My Sweet Audrina goes Down a Dark Hall.
I sought it out because it's a book that the protagonist of Ducks, Newburyportharkens to repeatedly, not as much as the Little House books but enough. My Sweet Audrina goes Down a Dark Hall.
More...