- Hardcover
- Publisher: Ballantine Books (P) (December 2006)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0345441168
- ISBN-13: 978-0345441164
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 14 x 2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 318 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,294,293 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Turning out novels on a near annual basis, this rising star of fantasy suspense abandons ancient Egypt (The Alchemist) for a satisfying, old-fashioned ghost story with a touch of violence and mayhem. Mary is an amnesiac who wakes up in a sanitarium with no sense of her past other than the dim memory of an incident that took the lives of her physician husband and daughter. Her psychotherapist at the sanitarium convinces her that her family isn't literally dead, and she moves into what she thinks is her lakeside house near Chapel Hill, N.C., hoping that its occupants-a frustrated writer and his rebellious teenage daughter, both spending the summer there-are her family. It gradually becomes clear that Mary is a ghost. The daughter, Elsie, sees her but can't speak to her. The father, Paul, encounters the ghost and actually converses with her. When his wife, Penny, a prominent surgeon, joins her family at the summer house, she has terrifying dreams of blood splattered about the kitchen. As Mary struggles to communicate with the house's isolated, unhappy occupants, they themselves fail to communicate with one another-Paul is miserable over his flagging career; Penny, preoccupied with her work, barely has time for the family; and Elsie is bitterly estranged from both of them. The author slowly reveals the ties between Mary's family and the one she has adopted, and Paul, Penny and Elsie begin to draw together as they research their mysterious visitor. This is a well-told tale with a shocking final revelation.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-Coming out of a coma-like state, Mary finds herself disoriented, almost without memories, and in the care of someone she thinks is a doctor in an institution. Desperately seeking answers, she knows she must remember her past in order to make a final transformation, for eventually she acknowledges that she is a ghost. In accepting her own destiny, she helps the family living in her old home face adultery, divorce, and the troubles of a distraught teenager denying her best friend's suicide. The novel begins with Mary and alternates her story with the plot concerning Paul and Penny Mason's failing marriage and their daughter, Elsie. Eventually the plots merge as the Masons begin seeing, experiencing, and talking to the woman. The climax occurs in a natural manner and quickly resolves all difficulties in a gripping final scene. Boyd's complex characters are rich in detail and individual traits. Elsie first appears to be stereotypically drawn, but she takes on her own uniqueness and awakens to the truth about herself and her friend's death. Mary must acknowledge her own death as well as the fate of her family before she can find peace. Paul and Penny reconcile. All the "awakenings" are interwoven, as lives inevitably are. For those who enjoy ghost stories with depth, this is a good choice.
Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Awakening,
By Jeni_Lyn (USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Awakening (Paperback)
This was an excellent ghost story! Usually with any ghost/mystery book, you can guess the ending mid way through the book, but not this one! Mrs. Boyd keeps us guessing until the end! The story is about The Mason's, a family recently moved into their lake home in Mercy, North Carolina, and struggling with family crisis, and Mary, a ghost of a woman who has been dead for seventy years and doesn't realize she is the ghost. Mary seems to be connected to this family in some way, after all, she has waited seventy years to return home, and that connection is the real mystery behind the ghost story! I highly recommend this book!
5.0 out of 5 stars
A tightly knit tale,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Awakening (Hardcover)
This story slowly spins a tale of a family in crisis alongside a woman in crisis. It gains momentum and draws you in. The characters, the house, and the countryside are beautifully and painstakingly described. The story is very complex, yet the book is remarkably short. I was shocked how quickly I read this.
4.0 out of 5 stars
A WONDERFUL, OLD-FASHIONED GHOST STORY WITH A TWIST...,
By
This review is from: The Awakening (Paperback)
The author, who has written a number of well-received books, including her elegantly written werewolf saga ("The Passion", "The Promise"), now turns her attention to ghosts in this intriguing tale of the supernatural. Those who have enjoyed the author's previous books will not be disappointed.The story is told through the eyes of a family in crisis, the Masons, as well as through the eyes of Mary, the ghost in this well told tale. The Masons are a family who have had their world turned upside down through a series of unfortuitous events. Their teenage daughter Elsie is suffering from some traumatic experience that has resulted in her being home schooled. Paul, the patriarch of the family, has done the near unforgivable, by having an affair with a student at the college at which he had been a professor. Having been summarily dismissed from his position for his ill advised behavior, he, a formerly successful writer, also has had the misfortune to watch his career wane, as that of Penny, his wife and a successful surgeon, has been on the rise. Clearly, this is a family in crisis. To escape the scandal, help their daughter, and try and save their marriage, the Masons have moved to their lakefront home in a rural section of North Carolina. While there, each of the family members has a series of unusual experiences. Elsie sees a woman named Mary wandering about the house, as does her father, while Penny has a series of violent dreams in which the woman named Mary also plays a part. Meanwhile, Mary, is having her own crisis, as the reader will soon discover. Mary has ties to the house in which the Masons now reside, and the Masons themselves seem all too familiar to her, as she wanders around the house and grounds. You see, Mary is desperately trying to remember something that remains elusive, and the Masons may just have the key to her past. This story is beautifully told when done so through the voice of Mary. Vivid in its imagery and language, it is very well done. When told through the collective voices of the Mason family, the book takes a much more pedestrian tone in the telling, which detracts somewhat from the book and takes away some of its polish and luster. Notwithstanding this, it is an intriguing and novel ghost story that is well worth reading.
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