At one point in this door-creaking vehicle one character observes that "The house is really turned on tonight!" And turn on it does, with black evil THINGs in the basement, a WASP dybbuk, feathery calls in the night, moving draperies. Caught up in all the terrestrial racket are widowed Ruth, her niece Sara, middle-aged professor Pat and Sara's fiance, Bruce—all plotting and researching in Ruth's haunted Georgetown, Washington, D.C., house. The fantastic four spend anxious hours there, while first Sara, then Pat and Bruce are possessed—then back to the old drawing board at Pat's untenanted digs to unravel the meaning of the latest sortie of the spirits. Turns out that former 18th-century inhabitants—father, daughter and lover—had accomplished a battle ending in two murders. The dauntless 20th-century pairs finally put all ghosts to rest. Old spirits in old bottles.
Pub Date: Oct. 11, 1968
ISBN: 978-0-06-074505-9
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Meredith
Review Posted Online: Aug. 9, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1968
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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