Long Lankin

June 11, 2012
Something's wrong with Cora and Mimi's mother, so their father sends them to live with their Aunt Ida, and she is none too happy when they arrive. Guerdon Hall, the sisters' temporary home, is immense, dark, and terrifying, both to them and to Aunt Ida. First published in the U.K., Barraclough's debut, which is based on a centuries-old British ballad, is a ghost story through and through, chock-full of mysterious apparitions, strange voices, cryptic warnings, and townsfolk who chorus beware, all of which frighten Cora and her new friend, a local boy named Roger, and compel them to uncover the mystery hovering over Guerdon Hall. Told in alternating first-person narratives belonging to Cora, Roger, and Aunt Ida, Barraclough's prose is often poetic; while beautiful, it also makes this strange story dense and initially difficult to access. Readers will likely get a sense of where the story is headed early on, but uncovering the complicated, sad history of Ida's life and the ways in which Cora and Mimi have become tangled in its legacy will compel them to its finish. Ages 12âup.

August 1, 2012

Gr 5-10-Children have gone missing for centuries in Byers Guerdon, and rumors of a dark curse and a ravenous evil haunt those who choose to remain there. When 12-year-old Cora and her little sister, Mimi, are sent to live with their elderly aunt in Guerdon Hall, their only wish is to go home and have nothing more to do with creepy old houses and secretive adults. Then, they meet two of the village boys and explore places best left alone, awakening a monster and resurrecting the nightmare once more. Can Cora save her sister from the clutches of Long Lankin and end the curse once and for all? This debut horror story set in Britain during the late 1940s starts slowly but weaves a chilling spell that will immerse readers in this world and hold them through to the breathless conclusion. With densely packed writing and a heavy dose of historical slang and colloquialisms unfamiliar to North American readers, this is a story for sophisticated readers who enjoy a good scare. Fans of Clare B. Dunkle's atmospheric horror stories such as By These Ten Bones (2005) and House of Dead Maids (2010, both Holt) are likely to enjoy this spine-tingling selection.-Stephanie Whelan, New York Public Library

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 15, 2012
A thoroughly terrifying, centuries-old monster stalks two children sent from London to stay with their great-aunt in the country. Cora and little sister Mimi's Auntie Ida could hardly be less welcoming when they show up at her door, sent by their father while their Mum, always prone to "funny moods," is away--again. They must keep the windows and doors locked, even though the crumbling old house is steaming in the summer heat. They mustn't explore in the house, or go down to the marshes, or--especially--go down to the old church. Roger and his brother Pete, local boys, are also forbidden to go there, but when the four children fall in together, down to the church they go--and wake up Long Lankin. He likes them young. This atmospheric, pulse-pounding debut makes the most of its rural, post-World War II setting, a time and place where folklore uneasily informs reality. Barraclough controls her narrative with authority, shifting voices and tenses to provide both perspective and the occasional welcome respite from tension. The actual threat remains mostly unknown for almost the first half of the book, evident mostly in the long scratches by the door, the fetid stench of the church, the secretiveness of the villagers and, overwhelmingly, Auntie Ida's frank terror. If some of the historical exposition comes very conveniently, readers won't care--they will be too busy flipping the pages as Long Lankin closes in. A good, old-fashioned literary horror tale for sophisticated readers. (Historical fantasy. 10-14)

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April 15, 2012
Grades 8-11 It's 1958, and sisters Cora and Mimi are unceremoniously dumped by their father into the arms of Aunt Ida, a haunted, solitary woman who lives in the small town of Bryers Guerdon. All is not well in the dank, depressed villageto say the leastand slowly, with the help of two new friends, the girls begin to turn up ancient and ghostly clues about a vicious child-stealing creature named Long Lankin. This is a story to get lost in: the gloomy, rain-soaked atmosphere recalls Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White, and the endless stories of woe related by various adults become something of a dense forestthere is enough plot here for a trilogy, and it will drag down readers looking for quick thrills. Those who appreciate old-fashioned chillers, though, will be rewarded by incident after unsettling incident: witchcraft, exorcisms, fire, plagues, and a blood-drinking murderer who walks on all fours. It's a lot to wade through, but you can't deny the freakish power of the final 50 pages: at long last, hell does break loose.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2013
Cora, sent with her little sister to crumbling Guerdon Hall, learns that the family has suffered a string of child deaths and abductions. Delving into Guerdon history, she and a local boy increasingly see ghosts of the children and of a tormented Elizabethan priest. This postWorld War II horror fantasy, told in three voices evokes the eastern England setting with earthy richness.

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2012
The ballad "Long Lankin" provides the plot for this post-World War II horror fantasy set in a tidal marsh in eastern England. When Cora and her little sister Mimi are sent to stay with Aunt Ida in Guerdon Hall, the crumbling family manor, they find their aunt taciturn and overprotective. Then, through her friendship with Roger, a local village boy, Cora learns that the Guerdons have suffered a string of child deaths and abductions. She and Roger delve into Guerdon history, and increasingly, see ghosts of the abducted children and of a tormented Elizabethan priest who warns them of Long Lankin's awakening and Mimi's danger. Even with the warnings, however, they aren't prepared when Long Lankin strikes. Barraclough evokes setting and atmosphere with earthy richness, detailing smells, sounds, blossoms, family life, and decaying architecture with the same attention she gives her portrait of postwar British village culture. This level of detail enriches but also stalls the lengthy story as it moves among three voices -- Cora's, Roger's, and Aunt Ida's. But the book gives readers shivers enough as Long Lankin, pungent and fetid, emerges to test the heroism of the three protagonists. deirdre f. baker

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)