GHOSTS IN THE GALLERY

Ghosts are the least of Jenny’s problems. Newly orphaned, she has traveled from China to the East Coast of the US to live with a grandfather she has never met. Instead of a warm welcome and a life of wealth and ease, she is condemned to a dark cellar room and a servant’s existence. As she learns to cope with endless backbreaking tasks, she also comes to realize that first impressions are rarely accurate. The new people in her life, both “upstairs and downstairs,” display their true colors one clue at a time. Who is a friend? Who is an enemy? Seemingly benign behavior may mask evil. Cruelty may be a protective device. There is danger and treachery before all is revealed. Wallace (Sparrows in the Scullery, 1997, etc.) has incorporated all the expected elements of the Victorian Gothic: an orphan, a gloomy mansion, a secret will, false identities, and a cast of sinister and mysterious characters. There is also a deft use of language that hints at the syntax of the 19th century. Descriptions of clothing and furnishings, as well as the minutiae of daily life, draw the reader a picture of time and place and atmosphere that is nearly perfect. Sure to be a hit. (Fiction. 8-11)