Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Search - The Haunting of Maddy Clare

The Haunting of Maddy Clare
The Haunting of Maddy Clare
Author: Simone St. James
1920s England: Sarah Piper’s lonely, threadbare existence changes when her temporary agency sends her to assist an obsessed ghost hunter. Alistair Gellis, rich, handsome, and scarred by World War I, has been summoned to investigate the spirit of the nineteen-year-old maid Maddy Clare, who is said to haunt the barn...  more »
ISBN-13: 9781617936852
ISBN-10: 1617936855
Publication Date: 3/15/2012
Pages: 318
Rating:
  • Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
 5

3.9 stars, based on 5 ratings
Publisher: New American Library
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback, Audio CD
Members Wishing: 8
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

susieqmillsacoustics avatar reviewed The Haunting of Maddy Clare on + 1062 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
This was my first St. James book, but it most certainly will not be my last. Very well done! A spooky ghost story with interesting characters and an intelligent, gripping story line. I enjoyed it all the way through!
reviewed The Haunting of Maddy Clare on + 1450 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
No, I don't believe in ghosts but I do believe in strong human connections, sensitivity, and intuition. The author does a phenomenal job of building a ghost story that will linger in the reader's mind. Maddy Clare is an unusual ghost whose actions affect those around her. Due to her experiences in life, including being buried alive, she cannot rest. A researching team has been recruited to uncover the mystery surrounding Maddy's life and death and, hopefully, put a halt to her haunting. It was hard to put this one aside as the suspense builds with each page. While I did determine what had happened before the author revealed it, I eagerly continued. It's an awesome read and but for a historical error would have given it five stars. Can't recommend it enough.
WhidbeyIslander avatar reviewed The Haunting of Maddy Clare on + 711 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
An intelligent and satisfying "old fashioned" (i.e. no gore or unpleasant images presented) ghost story, with a plucky heroine, unconventional hero(oes), and no trick ending. Nicely set in England soon after W.W.I when many people were haunted by that as well. [My favorite ghost story is "The Uninvited" by Dorothy Macardle and while this book won't knock that one off the top of my list, it is up there in the top ten (joining "The Haunting of Hill House," "The Elementals," "Hell House" and others. Only a slight quibble: the actresses the author mentions were probably not well known to ordinary English citizens at the time the story takes place. One had not made any movies outside her native Sweden until 2 or 3 years later and the other had only made a few shorts, been an extra and had fifth or sixth billed roles in undistinguished Hollywood productions. All this is easy to determine with the Internet.)]
Read All 10 Book Reviews of "The Haunting of Maddy Clare"

Please Log in to Rate these Book Reviews

MKSbooklady avatar reviewed The Haunting of Maddy Clare on + 981 more book reviews
Didn't like this as much as some of the others by Simone St. James.
ra7 avatar reviewed The Haunting of Maddy Clare on + 1026 more book reviews
This takes place in 1920's England and WWI is still on many minds. This took time for me to become fully invested in the story. I thought the start was slow and dry. I did like the writing and first person narrative.
Sarah is lonely and gets her jobs (short term) from a temp agency. This agency hooks her up with Alistair, a ghost hunter. It seems he needs a woman for his next job since Mrs. Clare will not allow a man into her barn. Alistair is lucky that he inherited money and is able to ghost hunt for his job/career. Matthew is his assistant. They meet and became friends in the army and have continued their friendship post war. It seems Mrs. Clare has a haunted barn. She took in and helped a young girl when she appeared at her door in desperate need of help. Maddy hated men and never left the house. She committed suicide several years after the Clares took her in.
Maddy's backstory is horrible, tragic (and you can guess what happened to her). I did like the reveal and how this was resolved. There is justice in the end. I was disappointed in the romance between Sarah and Matthew. Sarah told Matthew she loved him and he had no reply to that other than that's great. I didn't quite "get" the romance and thought this was the weakest part of the book.
perryfran avatar reviewed The Haunting of Maddy Clare on + 1221 more book reviews
I thought this was a pretty good ghost story that kept my attention throughout. The narrator and protagonist of the novel is Sarah Piper, a lonely young woman who works for a temporary agency to work periodically doing various clerical work. Then she is sent on an interview to assist a ghost hunter, Alistair Gellis, who is obsessed by ghosts after seeing one early in life. The novel takes place in the early 1920s, not long after WWI. Gellis was wounded in the war and still has vivid flashbacks to it. His normal assistant, Matthew Ryder, was also in the war and has much deeper scars from it. Sarah is hired by Alistair because Matthew is temporarily occupied elsewhere and because the ghost he is going to investigate, Maddy Clare, hated men in life and will not speak to them in death. Soon Sarah is caught up in the wrath of Maddy who's very angry and seems to possess unholy powers. So why is Maddy so angry, especially towards men? Sarah soon discovers the reasons and what happened to Maddy and along the way, she also falls in love with Matthew. But will he reciprocate her feelings?

As I said, this was a good ghost story. Although it was pretty straight forward and the mystery of Maddie was not hard to solve, it still provided some good chills. I'm not real keen on romance novels and this one was partly that but overall, I would still mildly recommend it.


Genres: