Content levels
Positive tags
Hero archetypes
Heroine archetypes
Protagonist archetypes
Tropes
Themes
Synopsis
"In 1920s England, a young woman of limited means and even less experience confronts the ghost of a mysterious serving maid.... Sarah Piper's lonely threadbare existence changes when her temporary agency sends her to assist a ghost hunter. Alistair Gellis--rich, handsome, scarred by World War I, and obsessed by ghosts--has been summoned to investigate the spirit of the nineteen-year-old maid Maddy Clare, who is said to haunt the barn where she committed suicide. Maddy hated men in life, and she will not speak to them in death. But Sarah is unprepared to go alone into a haunted barn looking for the truth. She's even less prepared for the arrival of Alistair's associate, rough, unsettling Matthew Ryder, also a veteran of the trenches, whose scars go deeper than Sarah can reach. Soon, Sarah is caught up in a desperate struggle. For Maddy's ghost is no hoax--she's real, she's angry, and she has powers that defy all reason. Can Sarah and Matthew discover who Maddy was, where she came from, and what is driving her desire for vengeance...before she destroys them all?"--
Is The Haunting of Maddy Clare appropriate for my child?
Suitable for most readers 16 and up.
Contains references to suicide, implied sexual violence against the ghost character, and WWI trauma/PTSD themes. Romantic content is mild with kissing and emotional tension but nothing explicit.
What to know going in
This book has moderate violence, mild sexual content, and mild language. Content notes include sexual assault, suicide, death, and grief (see the full list above).
Who'll love this
Teens who love atmospheric ghost stories with romance and historical mystery will be drawn to the haunted barn investigation and the scarred veterans.