“There are times when the midsummer sun strikes cold, and when the leaping flames of a hearthfire give no heat. Times when the chill within us comes not from fears we know, but from fears unknown-and forever unknowable.”
― Patricia Clapp, Jane-Emily

Does anyone remember this eerie and fascinating little book from days gone by?

This is a chilling little read from my childhood years that I have reread since then and find just as creepy as back then. OK..Maybe not just as creepy..but still creepy nonetheless!

I remember after reading this just feeling the eeriness and the ominous feelings. And does anyone look at reflecting Balls in the same way again?

This is one of those timeless tales that can be enjoyed by anyone in any age group and despite the fact that it is a pretty small book and I am an adult now..that Emily..that reflection.. Yowsa! ( )

A book told in two different stories, each about children who are over the top mean. The first Emily Jane is a haunting tale of a young child whose parents have died. With her Aunt, she travels to Massachusetts to spend a summer with her grandmother. The house is old, well kept and lovely. The gardens too are spectacular. Soon, when Emily looks into the glass ball sitting carefully on a pedestal, she sees the face of Jane, the nasty daughter of her grandmother. Jane died long ago, but appears to reside inside the lovely glass ball. Increasingly Jane takes over Emily.

The second tale The Witches' Children is the story of the witch hunts in Salem Mass. in the 1600's, and the nasty girls who were responsible for the deaths of so many innocent people. There is nothing new to learn, but the story is well told.

Reprinted, this older book is written in a wonderful way that calls the reader to continue the journey. ( )

The first story in this book, Jane-Emily, is a quaint little ghostly yarn about a young girl Jane who is haunted by her aunt Emily who died in childhood. Jane is a sweet, sensitive child while her aunt Emily was in life hell on wheels. Louisa, Jane's young aunt tries to make sense of Jane's ramblings about the wishes of the dead Emily. At first she thinks it's nonsense but quickly comes to the realization that something more sinister is afoot.

The second story is a retelling of the events surrounding the Salem witch trials. I am familiar with the story so there wasn't much new to uncover here. At first the story was extremely dry but as it went on I found myself enjoying it more. The story is told from the viewpoint of the servant girl Mary who lived in John Proctor's house. At first she joins in with the other girls in the village pretending to be bewitched and falling into hysterics. It is a amusing distraction in an otherwise uneventful life. But as serious consequences begin to occur from their actions and real people begin to be hurt by their lies, Mary begins to rethink her actions. As a side note the real Gallows hill where the Salem population hung their neighbors for witchcraft has been recently confirmed to be Proctor's Ledge and it's located next to a Walgreens. This is a very interesting article on the subject: http://www.salemnews.com/news/local_news/proctor-s-ledge-in-salem-confirmed-as-w... As for the story itself, it's informative if you don't know very much about the subject but all Crucible fans can take a pass. ( )

I Jane-Emily is an atmospherically creepy story with a similar tone to Shirley Jackson's novels, and I enjoyed it. It's not as strong as Jackson's work (though what is?) and gets a little bogged down with the romance part, but there's still a pretty good feel to this book. Once you pull out the romance it reminded me a little of The Watcher in the Woods, which was one of my favorite movies as a kid. (Reading the book as an adult, I was surprised to see how little resemblance there was between it and the movie. Still good and creepy, but a totally different story.)

The Witch's Children half of this book was a little dull, though. It's not much more than a fictionalized account of one of the "possessed" girls who sparked the Salem witch trials. I know that sounds like it could be really interesting... but sadly, it wasn't.

4 stars for Jane-Emily; 3 for Witch's Children.

*I'm open to all recommendations--a Google search for "classic horror novels" brought up a lot of results for Stephen King. Um, not exactly the kind of classic I'm looking for, guys. With all the librarians on my GoodReads friend list, surely somebody can help me out? (Hmph, most of you are children's and teen folks. We don't do a lot of grown-up reading, do we?) ( )

A Bossy boots recommendation. A well written period piece, with enough jumps and suspense to make things interesting. A solid read, and well done. ( )