From the award-winning author of The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy comes an unforgettable and deeply personal story of the ghosts that surround us—and the ones we carry inside.
The house seemed to sit apart from the others on Katydid Street, silent and alone, like it didn’t fit among them. For Violet Hart—whose family is about to move into the house on Katydid Street—very little felt like it fit anymore. Like their old home, suddenly too small since her mother remarried and the new baby arrived. Or Violet’s group of friends, which, since they started middle school, isn’t enough for Violet’s best friend, Paige. Everything seemed to be changing at once. But sometimes, Violet tells herself, change is okay.
That is, until Violet sees her new room. The attic bedroom in their new house is shadowy, creaky, and wrapped in old yellow wallpaper covered with a faded tangle of twisting vines and sickly flowers. And then, after moving in, Violet falls ill—and does not get better. As days turn into weeks without any improvement, her family growing more confused and her friends wondering if she’s really sick at all, she finds herself spending more time alone in the room with the yellow wallpaper, the shadows moving in the corners, wrapping themselves around her at night.
And soon, Violet starts to suspect that she might not be alone in the room at all.
Genre: Children's Fiction
The house seemed to sit apart from the others on Katydid Street, silent and alone, like it didn’t fit among them. For Violet Hart—whose family is about to move into the house on Katydid Street—very little felt like it fit anymore. Like their old home, suddenly too small since her mother remarried and the new baby arrived. Or Violet’s group of friends, which, since they started middle school, isn’t enough for Violet’s best friend, Paige. Everything seemed to be changing at once. But sometimes, Violet tells herself, change is okay.
That is, until Violet sees her new room. The attic bedroom in their new house is shadowy, creaky, and wrapped in old yellow wallpaper covered with a faded tangle of twisting vines and sickly flowers. And then, after moving in, Violet falls ill—and does not get better. As days turn into weeks without any improvement, her family growing more confused and her friends wondering if she’s really sick at all, she finds herself spending more time alone in the room with the yellow wallpaper, the shadows moving in the corners, wrapping themselves around her at night.
And soon, Violet starts to suspect that she might not be alone in the room at all.
Genre: Children's Fiction
Praise for this book
"Not Quite a Ghost is that rare book that manages to deeply satisfy on several levels: it's a delightfully creepy haunting; an authentically tender middle school friendship drama; and an all-too-realistic portrait of a girl whose undiagnosed illness is the scariest specter of all. I loved it." - Elana K Arnold
"Anne Ursu has done it again: Not Quite a Ghost is a tender-yet-fierce hug of a story, complete with heartbreaking (and heartwarming) friendship ups and downs, a sensitive and honest exploration of invisible illness, and a truly creepy thing that lives inside the walls of a very special house. I want to press this beautiful book into the hands of everyone I know." - Claire Legrand
"Not Quite a Ghost is not quite like anything I've read. Insightful and creepy, surprising and tense, this ghost story is wonderfully and exuberantly human." - Eliot Schrefer
"Anne Ursu hooks the reader through realistic, engaging characters and builds the suspense until it's unbearable. What exactly is haunting Violet? You'll get paper cuts on your fingertips turning the pages fast enough to find out." - J A White
"Anne Ursu has done it again: Not Quite a Ghost is a tender-yet-fierce hug of a story, complete with heartbreaking (and heartwarming) friendship ups and downs, a sensitive and honest exploration of invisible illness, and a truly creepy thing that lives inside the walls of a very special house. I want to press this beautiful book into the hands of everyone I know." - Claire Legrand
"Not Quite a Ghost is not quite like anything I've read. Insightful and creepy, surprising and tense, this ghost story is wonderfully and exuberantly human." - Eliot Schrefer
"Anne Ursu hooks the reader through realistic, engaging characters and builds the suspense until it's unbearable. What exactly is haunting Violet? You'll get paper cuts on your fingertips turning the pages fast enough to find out." - J A White
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