This is the prequel to Wuthering Heights, which I haven't read, and it's short. I read half of it last night, since "The Simpsons" wasn't on. This is a moody, atmospheric book, full of spookiness and ghosts -- the kind of book you don't want to read just as you're moving to a new house. ( )

I read this last night in one sitting. It's a young adult ghost story and I couldn't put it down. It is the story of Tabby (the Bronte's housekeeper) when she was a young girl and how she met Heathcliff prior to the story of Wuthering Heights. It's a pretty outrageous tale but I love ghost stories and I got drawn into it. It's fiction, of course, and likely to have never happened but it made for a good story. Not sure that I would have thought of this story if I wanted to explain Heathcliff's origin, but it is an interesting, imaginative take on what might have happened.

In brief, Tabby, an orphan, and a young boy, also an orphan, are brought to a haunted mansion somewhere in England where creepy things happen in the house and in the local village. I was surprised to find out just how creepy things really were.

And this story is probably a lot better if you don't relate it to Wuthering Heights at all and just accept it as a creepy 19th century ghost story. ( )

Clever tie-in to Wuthering Heights. ( )

Narrated by Emily Gray. In what turns out to be a prequel to an old classic novel (I won't reveal it here), Tabby Akroyd is brought in to be nursemaid to a blasphemous little boy who refers to himself as a “heathen git” and considers himself the master of Seldom House. Tabby has to refer to the boy as “Himself” because no one will tell her his name. There are other strange happenings at Seldom House, as Tabby encounters empty-eyed ghosts and indifferent house staff, and uncovers a horrifying pact about the keeping of Seldom House. I found narrator Gray’s British-accented voice a tad too bright and pert for interpreting a story involving the walking dead. ( )

This books is creeptastic! The story flows well and keeps the reader engaged. For anyone who is a fan of Wuthering Heights this book is a must read.

I was a little bothered by the representation of the marriage of the land, as represented in this book. But I reminded myself that many ancient traditions have been shaped into tales of terror.

I love the touch near the end where Tabby is visited by a Maiden in white, instead of black. I'll give you three guesses to name the Maiden in white. ( )