This House Is Haunted

By: John Boyne

Narrated by: Alison Larkin

Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

Written in Dickensian prose, This House Is Haunted is a striking homage to the classic 19-century ghost story. Set in Norfolk in 1867, Eliza Caine responds to an ad for a governess position at Gaudlin Hall.

When she arrives at the hall, shaken by an unsettling disturbance that occurred during her travels, she is greeted by the two children now in her care, Isabella and Eustace. There is no adult present to represent her mysterious employer, and the children offer no explanation.

Later that night in her room, another terrifying experience further reinforces the sense that something is very wrong. From the moment Eliza rises the following morning, her every step seems dogged by a malign presence that lives within Gaudlin's walls. Eliza realizes that if she and the children are to survive its violent attentions, she must first uncover the hall's long-buried secrets and confront the demons of its past.

Clever, captivating, and witty, This House Is Haunted is pure entertainment with a catch.

©2013 John Boyne (P)2013 Tantor

Critic reviews

"A perfect, shivery gothic tale." ( Booklist)

Very good

I enjoyed this listen, the story was good and kept me interested. The narrator was great. I listened to the whole thing in one day!

Great Narrator, Blah Storytelling

Would you try another book from John Boyne and/or Alison Larkin?

I would love to listen to something else narrated by Ms. Larkin; her enthusiastic narration really saved what could have been a terrible audiobook. I'd be open to another book by Mr. Boyne as well, since his technical writing was good and the poor storytelling here may be a fluke on his part.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Boyne worried too much about replicating a gothic feel, and not enough about fleshing out his characters or story. If he'd reversed the tendency, it all would have been much better.

SPOILER: As an example of the poor storytelling, the sole motivation Boyne gave the mother for becoming a murderous psychopath was that she had been sexually abused as a child. This could have worked in theory, but the way he handed it left a bad taste in my mouth. The way he wrote the story, Boyne expected the reader to accept the idea that an abused child would naturally grow up to be a homicidal maniac as a truism requiring no further explanation. That just seems rather insulting towards the 99.99% victims of abuse that don't go on to commit multiple homicides to me. Handling that more intelligently would have improved the story, as well as given the mother greater depth.

Any additional comments?

Not a great book, but not a bad one either. If you like this style of gothic writing, it's worth a credit. Just don't expect it to do more than pass the time.

Not your usual John Boyne

John Boyne is my favorite author, I have read or listened to many of his books and always love them. So I didn't hesitate before getting this one. I was disappointed, just not much of a story. I won't give up on him though.

Excellent novel!

Absolutely loved listening to this novel and plan to re-listen to it again soon!

Entertaining

If you could sum up This House Is Haunted in three words, what would they be?

Delightful, entertaining, enjoyable

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Yes! This book was delightful! I loved the narrator who portrayed the story quite well. I especially loved the writer's use of the "Old" English word usage.

Which character – as performed by Alison Larkin – was your favorite?

The governess

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes

Any additional comments?

no

this house is haunted

loved it! looked forward to listening to more whenever I wasn't able to. the voice acting was amazing too

This house is haunted

Excellent book! It has a weird vibe since there are two children on their own and mystery surrounding their dad.I liked it.

Applause for John Boyne

I so love his work. This is a classic Gothic horror done so well. No, not scary but neither is Frankenstein or The Woman in White or any of Poe's genius. This is a well crafted and slightly disturbing tale of haunting. I am still thinking of the last word!! Well done in a genre not his normal.

Great story

At first, I didn’t think I would like it. I think it was the reader but as the story moved forward, I became intrigued with the characters. I really enjoyed the character development of Eliza Cane, the central character.

I found it interesting that the way the two children were read reminded me of the two children in the movie, The Others. So much so that I looked to see if this book was the inspiration for the movie. However, the story is entirely different.

If you like a solid ghost story, I’d highly recommend it. I enjoyed it very much.

Finally, a good spooky story!

I've read many horror novels and have seen many horror movies, but nothing has ever actually scared me. While this book didn't scare me, it did give me some fun chills. The era and place feel like characters, too. Definitely a fun read!