The House of Dead Maids

August 15, 2010
Pagan magic, Heathcliff's back story and a lot of scary dead maids: Dunkle's knack for the creepy (By These Ten Bones, 2005) sets spines tingling. Woodcut-style chapter-head illustrations ratchet up the spook factor, especially those depicting corpses and ghosts. When Tabby becomes the "Young Maid" at Seldom House, she finds herself in a strange world, where she is expected to do little other than look after a bloodthirsty, nameless little boy, the "Young Master." Seldom House and the neighboring village have no church, and dead maids haunt Tabby. Gradually she realizes she and the Young Master are marked for sacrifice ("It's an honor to be given to the land," one of the villagers tells her). While it seems clear from the start that Tabby will survive (she narrates the story from a later vantage point), it is not until the end that the connection to Wuthering Heights becomes clear. For readers familiar with Brontë's novel, the final connection is a masterstroke; even those who don't get it will find this a keeper. (Horror. 12 & up)

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November 1, 2010

Gr 6 Up-Beginning with her selection from a group of orphan girls by the aloof Miss Winter, 11-year-old Tabby narrates a tale about her service at Seldom House, a crumbling, remote manor on the English moors. Strange events occur almost immediately: she is given a large room but is locked in at night and soon encounters the eyeless ghost of another young maid named Izzy. Tabby is told that she is to care for the young master, who will arrive shortly. He proves to be a dirty urchin who has a quick temper and imperious manner and is referred to by the old master as "a heathen git." As the children roam the house, grounds, and surrounding hills, more and more ghosts appear to them. Finally they encounter a group of grimy, moldering maids on the moors. Determined to learn why Izzy seems to be trying to warn her, Tabby explores the manor and finds that a gruesome fate awaits her and her young master. Not until the last chapter do readers discover that this story is a prequel to Wuthering Heights. Dunkle has incorporated real people (Tabitha Aykroyd was the Brontes' housemaid, well-known for telling her young charges "otherworldly tales"), fictional characters (the boy is revealed to be a young Heathcliff), and the ancient Druidic practice of human sacrifice into a tense tale of supernatural doings. Whether or not the story will lead readers to Emily Bronte's classic novel remains to be seen.-Kathryn Kosiorek, formerly at Cuyahoga County Public Library, Brooklyn, OH

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2010
Grades 7-10 If the prospect of a prequel to Emily Bront's Wuthering Heights wont exactly set most kids hearts aflutter, the chilling jacket illustration of a pale girl without eyes might do the trick. As prequels go, its no Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), but its no slouch either, channeling Bront's gothic atmosphere for a tale more thoroughly soaked in ghostly mayhem. Eleven-year-old Tabby Aykroyd (modeled after the real-life servant of the Bront's, who allegedly told the sisters many a terrifying tale) is hired out to Seldom House, a moody estate in need of a nursemaid for the new master, a feisty young boy (Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights, though here he is referred to as Himself). Ghosts are afoot in Seldom House, but that doesnt flap the unflappable Tabbywhats scary is that the ghosts are maids, just like her. Arrasmiths drawings, which begin each chapter, promise an intensity of horror not matched by the understated prose; still, though, Dunkles period detail and the delicious pagan rituals of a fantastic, Shirley Jacksonstyle climax overcome the predictable plot arc.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)