''The House on Parchment Street'' is a

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

ghost story A ghost story is any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them."Ghost Stories" in Margaret Drabble (ed.), ''Oxford Companion to English Literature'' ...

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

for juvenile readers by Patricia A. McKillip, first published in hardcover by Atheneum in 1973 and reprinted in trade paperback by the same publisher in March 1978 and April 1991. It bears the distinction, along with ''

The Throme of the Erril of Sherill ''The Throme of the Erril of Sherill'' is a fantasy novella for juvenile readers by Patricia A. McKillip, as well as a subsequent collection containing the novella. The novella was first published in hardcover by Atheneum in 1973. It bears the dis ...

'' (also 1973), of being one of McKillip's first published books.

Summary

Carol, a self-reliant teen-aged American girl, is sent to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

to stay a month with relatives currently living in a big old rented house on Parchment Street, next to a graveyard in a small village. Her first encounter with the locals involves a group of delinquent bullies, whom she drives away, only to learn they're the cronies of her cousin Bruce. Naturally, she and Bruce don't immediately hit it off well with each other. After various misadventures she witnesses a signal event in the cellar—the

ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

of a swordsman dressed in black, who disappears into a wall. After she learns Bruce has also seen the ghost, the two enter a tentative alliance to investigate the mystery. The first ghost and another, this one of a young girl, are trapped in a daily reenactment of traumatic events that originally took place during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

, over three hundred years before. Only the children seem able to perceive the ghosts; neither Carol's hidebound Uncle Harold nor the more open-minded Father Malory can see them. Eventually Carol and Bruce uncover a walled-up tunnel leading from the cellar of the house to the nearby church, following the ghosts to the bloody conclusion of their reenactments, and are able to lay them to rest by burying their bones, which they discover in the tunnel. In the course of their adventure they develop a more sympathetic relationship.

Reception

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' calls the book a "satisfying adventure ... just what young readers would order if they had the imagination to dream it up themselves," and goes on to say that " ough the story lacks the intriguing psychological ambiguity of, say,

Zilpha Snyder Zilpha Keatley Snyder (May 11, 1927 – October 7, 2014) was an American author of books for children and young adults. Three of Snyder's works were named Newbery Honor books: ''The Egypt Game'', '' The Headless Cupid'' and '' The Witches of Worm ...

's ghost stories, McKillip blends history, supernatural occurrences, and firm contemporary reality with a sure sense of drama and detail that brings all three worlds to simultaneous life."Review
in ''Kirkus Reviews'', Mar. 21, 1973.

References

Novels by Patricia A. McKillip 1973 American novels 1973 fantasy novels American fantasy novels Novels set in England Atheneum Books books {{1970s-fantasy-novel-stub