Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

This House Is Haunted
This House Is Haunted
This House Is Haunted
Audiobook8 hours

This House Is Haunted

Written by John Boyne

Narrated by Alison Larkin

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

()

About this audiobook

Written in Dickensian prose, This House Is Haunted is a striking homage to the classic nineteenth-century ghost story. Set in Norfolk in 1867, Eliza Caine responds to an ad for a governess position at Gaudlin Hall. When she arrives at the hall, shaken by an unsettling disturbance that occurred during her travels, she is greeted by the two children now in her care, Isabella and Eustace. There is no adult present to represent her mysterious employer, and the children offer no explanation. Later that night in her room, another terrifying experience further reinforces the sense that something is very wrong.

From the moment Eliza rises the following morning, her every step seems dogged by a malign presence that lives within Gaudlin's walls. Eliza realizes that if she and the children are to survive its violent attentions, she must first uncover the hall's long-buried secrets and confront the demons of its past. Clever, captivating, and witty, This House Is Haunted is pure entertainment with a catch.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateOct 21, 2013
ISBN9781452687421
This House Is Haunted
Author

John Boyne

John Boyne is the author of numerous works of fiction, including The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, a young adult novel that became an international bestseller and was made into an award-winning film. His books have been translated into forty-six languages, and he is the recipient of two Irish Book Awards, the Bistro Book of the Year award, and numerous international prizes. He lives in Dublin.

More audiobooks from John Boyne

Related to This House Is Haunted

Related audiobooks

Suspense For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for This House Is Haunted

Rating: 3.591357990123457 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

405 ratings46 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    really found this book very entertaining ...would love to find other books by this author

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An old-fashioned gothic haunted house story! What fun! I so enjoyed the atmosphere of this book and the pace. John Boyne is a terrific storyteller. I highly recommend to fans of The Turn of the Screw or the movie The Others.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Loved it a really nice sweet story. Worth a try,
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    A solid 2.5; not great, not terrible. Same goes for narration. Be forewarned the narrator has a very childish lispy voice which works well for the main character naivety but it does wear on you.
    The story is another retelling of the turn of the screw so minus the science fiction showdown chapter, there are no surprises but obviously it has decent bones.
    Random observations: the little boy is read as though he’s 90.
    Overwhelming focus on the main character’s plainness and her random attraction to nearly every male character she encounters
    The author needed to do a bit more research into the time period.. parts felt awkwardly out of place/modern given it being the late 1800s.
    The sci-fi showdown chapter…
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I sincerely wish all stories could be written as well as this one was done. Excellent character development and an enjoyable plot, which is a mix of suspense, drama, and a bit of humor. Do yourself a favor and choose this book. The narrator, of this audio production, is absolutely perfect. Can not wait to find more novels written and narrated by this duo. I am now off on a quest to find more by this duo.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Really interesting spin-off of The Turn of the Screw, with more than a few notes of Jane Eyre added. I liked the characterization and the explanation, though it certainly played with the initial plot lines of James's classic oddity a good deal.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    1867. Eliza Caine arrives in Norfolk to take up her position as governess at Gaudlin Hall on a dark and chilling night. As she makes her way across the station platform, a pair of invisible hands push her from behind into the path of an approaching train. She is only saved by the vigilance of a passing doctor.When she finally arrives, shaken, at the hall she is greeted by the two children in her care, Isabella and Eustace. There are no parents, no adults at all, and no one to represent her mysterious employer. The children offer no explanation. Later that night in her room, a second terrifying experience further reinforces the sense that something is very wrong.My Thoughts:This tale is a classic gothic creepy ghost story. I felt that this story was very traditional as ghost stories go with the classic ghostie presence and a house full of secrets. What I did find was that I felt that story was predicitable towards the end and I quite easly worked out who the ghost was.The story was good and John Boyne is a good storyteller. The book flowed quite well and I did feel that I was in a victorian haunted house. Although the book had plenty of creeps I didn’t find it scary and felt it was quite mild compared with other books. However a good ghost story doesn’t have to be scary but has to have the right balance of chills. Perhaps this book is best read on a cold winters night, curled up in front of a roaring fire.Recommended for chills but not scary.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Very interesting story. Much like wuthering heights. Maybe more like Dickens
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    At the outset, I rather imagined this book would read in a delightful The Ghost and Mrs. Muir sort of way. I was very wrong.This House Is Haunted is the tale of Eliza Caine, a 21-year-old spinster-to-be living in London in 1867. After the death of her father, Eliza accepts the position as a Governess for two children at Gaudlin Hall in Norfolk. Still grieving and having never before left London, Eliza has no idea what is to await her. However, even in her wildest dreams she could not have guessed the situation she was about to step into.I loved the inclusion of Charles Dickens into this story and, being quite a Dickensiophile (?), loved how the prose was inspired as such. Much like Eliza, I had not an inkling of an idea of what was awaiting her at Gaudlin Hall, however the puzzle pieces are very large, and once you get the first and second pieces it’s easy to guess what the picture is going to be at the end. There a few abrupt transitions that didn’t sit with me very well. In at least two different spots a chapter starts out describing something that just happened which wasn’t in the text at all. Of course, not every moment of Eliza’s time needs to be accounted for to enjoy the story, but in both of these occasions the missing tales are rather important and I am left wondering what was behind the choice to leave them out completely.I am also rather confused as to Isabella’s motivations near the end of the book (that’s a tip-toe around a spoiler if I’ve ever written one), but Boyne did a good job of making her just enough of a throw-away character to not be too worried about her choices, and to be surprised at the end.I really did enjoy this book and it flew by. A perfect read for a dark and stormy evening.Trigger Warnings: violence, gore, sexual abuse of children (insinuated), incest (insinuated), mental illness.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This House is Haunted by John Boyne is a humorous love letter to Charles Dickens and the great Gothic horrors. When her father suddenly dies after attending a reading by Charles Dickens, Eliza impulsively answers an unusual ad for a governess. She plans on making the grand Westerley estate–along with its two orphaned children–her new home and family. But, the illusion cannot last, and the facade begins to crumble.

    Set in a neglected mansion, This House is Haunted has all the major elements of the classic Gothic horrors: aloof villagers, vanishing servants, creepy children, a haunted attic, a cantankerous groundskeeper, madness and murder. It’s populated with characters sporting Dickensian names and had plenty of orphans and tragic childhoods to spare. You don’t have to be a fan of the genre to spot elements reminiscent of Jane Eyre, Turn of the Screw and even a Hound of Baskervilles.

    John Boyne’s This House is Haunted was a restrained but humorous read until the over-the-top grand finish–where it became just silly and melodramatic. With all its humor and classic elements, I do wonder if this was meant to be a parody. If it was meant to be a parody, it was a little too serious. If it was meant to be a tragic ghost story, it was a little too silly. It was quick and enjoyable, so even with the uncertainty, it’s worth a read.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    A promising beginning turned into a bland story. Might be a good read for younger readers who haven't read many ghost stories.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    It is 1867 and Eliza Caine, whose father has just died and left her virtually penniless, responds to an advertisement for a governess position at Gaudlin Hall in Norfolk, England. When she finally arrives, after a frightening incident in the thick fog, she’s greeted by the two children for whom she’ll care, Isabella and Eustace. But there is no adult present, and the children offer no explanation. Later that night in her room a second terrifying incident occurs and Eliza begins to question whether she should have taken this assignment. In this work, Boyne focuses his considerable talent on writing a classic gothic ghost story. The writing style is reminiscent of Dickens and Bronte; I definitely pick up echoes of Jane Eyre. The reader learns pretty quickly that there is something not right in this house, but Boyne takes his time building suspense before letting us know definitively what is going on. I felt Eliza’s frustration when no one in town would tell her the full truth, cheered her on as she stiffened her spine and decided to take matters into her own hands, and I applauded her dedication to the children when she refused to leave them alone despite any danger to herself. The big climax is somewhat overdramatic, though typical of the genre. But the ending is downright chilling.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    In this novel John Boyne recreates the setting and mood of 19th Century ghost stories with the help of some of the commonest tropes of the genre: a grieving governess, two not-so-innocent children, a haunted country mansion and pages upon pages of thick fog. The novel is enjoyable and moves at a quick pace, but the pseudo-Victorian style does not ring true. There are several contemporary writers who are better at Victorian pastiche (e.g. Sarah Waters, the late Michael Cox)and traditional supernatural tales (e.g. Susan Hill)
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This is perhaps cruel, but I had thought, based on character and plot notes, that this was a first novel – finding out that it was his seventh or so was disappointing. Eliza is likable enough, but she doesn't quite carry the time-worn tropes, and neither does his mostly period-appropriate prose. (Eliza says in the narration that she has to "cope with" her father's death, a phrase that had its heyday in the 1980s and was relatively rare until the 1930s, according to google ngram.)

    That said, it was fine, but hit a lot of points that felt too anchored in the Victorian era and did nothing to add freshness to them.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was a haunted house story so Dickensian in style, Dickens himself is a catalyst within. I listened to the audio version, narrated by Alison Larkin.

    I enjoyed this story of Eliza Caine attempting to fulfill her position as governess to two children, in a house almost falling down due to disrepair. How she got there and her attempt to keep the children safe I will leave for you to discover.

    I liked the style of the storytelling and I enjoyed the character of Eliza, though at times she seemed too wily and too naive-both at once. Where the story lost me was at the very end, which is usually where these types of books fall apart, in my opinion. In this case I didn't mind it because I enjoyed the journey towards the end so much.

    The narrator, Alison Larkin, is new to me, but I loved her performance! She brought the characters alive and I will actively seek out more of her audio narrations in the future.

    Overall, this was a decent haunted house story and I recommend it to fans of such.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An homage to the Victorian ghost story, especially The Turn of the Screw. Boyne runs with the classic tropes of a governess arriving at her mysterious place of employment, a ramshackle country estate, where she encounters two sometimes creepy children and many secrets to be uncovered. There's even a hint of romance as well as many other gothic elements I won't mention to avoid spoilers (but you'll certainly be reminded of Jane Eyre and Rebecca as well). I think this novel would make a good movie, especially the climactic scenes. While I found this short little yarn to be entertaining, I don't think Boyne was doing anything particularly new with the form. Still, I'm always in the mood for a ghost story.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    “But as I stared at my new home, I felt a curious urge to ask Heckling to turn the carriage around and drive me back to Norwich, where I might sit on a bench at Thorpe Station until the sun came up and then return to London, a job badly done.” (Original citation page 70)

    Content:
    When her father suddenly had died, 21-year-old schoolteacher Eliza Caine wants to leave London and applies for the position of a governess at Gaudlin Hall in Norfolk. Her job begins in October 1867. When she arrives, she meets the two children, she will look after, 12-year-old Isabella Westerley and her younger brother Eustace, 8 years old. They seem to live alone in this grand country house. There is Mrs. Livermore who cooks and cleans but she lives in the nearby village. Soon Eliza learns that she is not the first governess coming here, but only one of them is still alive, because the house is full of secrets and terrifying things happen. Nevertheless, she is determined to not abandon the two children.

    Theme and genre:
    A gripping ghost story in the best tradition of the famous 19th century gothic novels, including a dark house with secrets and supernatural mysteries, and a brave heroine. The narrative takes place in England, in the year 1867.

    Characters:
    Isabella and Eustace are very well educated children, but they are very quiet, severely traumatized by the circumstances of the death of their mother.
    Eliza is missing her father, but she has a very brave character, not willing to give up when she can solve some of the mysteries surrounding Gaudlin Hall and the two children. It is typical for this kind of gothic novels that the reader likes the heroine and fears for her.

    Plot and writing:
    The exciting, creepy story is written in the first person, told by Eliza, the governess. As Eliza begins to ask people, she and the reader learn about past events that explain some of the occurrences happening in the present. Unforeseeable twists until the last pages stress the captivating storyline.

    Conclusion:
    A spine-chilling gothic novel that makes the reader shiver and unable to stop reading. Perfect for enjoyable reading hours on dark winter afternoons and stormy evenings.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In the wake of her father’s death, needing a change, Eliza Caine arrives at Gaudlin Hall to be the governess for two children—only nothing is as she thought. She quickly becomes swept up in a story full of mystery, secrets, and a menacing presence. With eerie atmosphere and haunting circumstances, this novel from John Boyne is an enjoyable, ghostly read.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    While I never really connected with the (first-person) narrator and found it a bit distant throughout, that may be more a factor of the setting & POV--as I'm hardly a 19th century woman.

    Still, an interesting mystery/ghost story with more red herrings than twists but interesting enough to keep me reading until the end.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Eliza Caine has just lost her father, and mired in grief, answers an advertisement for a governess. But even before her arrival, strange and dangerous things begin to happen to her, occurrences that only get worse once she makes it to Gaudlin Hall.This is a well-written scary story. The eeriness builds subtly at first, then crescendos. I love a good, gothic ghost story, especially one that reminds me of The Turn of the Screw, and this book checks all those boxes.Eliza Caine is also a very strong female character who you can't help but root for. She makes for a compelling, complex narrator.The story started out slow, and took a while to get going. I know this was to build suspense, but the story didn't really get very interesting until Eliza arrived at Gaudlin Hall.If you like gothic horror and ghost stories, this is a book I would recommend. It's not one I imagine I will be re reading, but I did enjoy reading it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book probably would have gotten 5 stars from me if it hadn't started off so painfully slow. I almost didn't finish it because the beginning dragged on so much. I understand that the author was trying to give background, but it definitely needed a little editing. However, when the action began it went full tilt until the very end. I found myself spending every free moment I had trying to find out what happened next and I was not disappointed by the ending. It was not what I expected, but it was absolutely perfect! I'm so glad I didn't give up on this one.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    After the death of her father Eliza Caine moves to Norfolk to be governess to two children at Gaudlin Hall, but from the moment she steps off of the train you begin to wonder what she has signed up for.

    Gaudlin Hall is clearly a house where something very wrong has happened and Eliza is certainly not made welcome by its otherworldly inhabitant.

    The book follows Eliza’s attempts to unravel the events that led to the house being haunted and the truth is slowly and gradually revealed as she befriends and talks to some of the residents of the village who knew the family before tragedy struck.

    I really enjoyed this book, I liked the pace of it and was intrigued as to what dark and sinister secrets the house held and how Eliza would cope with her time there. It's spooky and unsettling in places, but not scary as such and it kept me gripped from start to finish.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    In 1867, Eliza Cain responds to n ad for a governess position at Gauldin Hall. She gets the position sight unseen and no questions asked. From the beginning she feels that something is off and that is only intensified when she arrives late at night and is greeted only by two young children.

    From the moment she rises the following morning and each day thereafter her every step is dogged by a malign presence that lives within these ancient walls. To make matters even worse it seems another ghost has joined the first one in residence only this one seems determined to protect rather than harm her. Eliza soon uncovers the hall's long buried secrets and confronts the demons of it's past.

    At first I wasn't at all sure that the language of the book wasn't going to be a turn off, but as soon as you get used to the Dickensian prose that the writer uses, you realize that it is perfect for the telling of this tale. it's a wonderful, scary and gripping ghost story...with an unexpected ending.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Delightfully creepy book about a young governess, haunted by the mother of the children she is caring for.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    At the outset, I rather imagined this book would read in a delightful The Ghost and Mrs. Muir sort of way. I was very wrong.This House Is Haunted is the tale of Eliza Caine, a 21-year-old spinster-to-be living in London in 1867. After the death of her father, Eliza accepts the position as a Governess for two children at Gaudlin Hall in Norfolk. Still grieving and having never before left London, Eliza has no idea what is to await her. However, even in her wildest dreams she could not have guessed the situation she was about to step into.I loved the inclusion of Charles Dickens into this story and, being quite a Dickensiophile (?), loved how the prose was inspired as such. Much like Eliza, I had not an inkling of an idea of what was awaiting her at Gaudlin Hall, however the puzzle pieces are very large, and once you get the first and second pieces it’s easy to guess what the picture is going to be at the end. There a few abrupt transitions that didn’t sit with me very well. In at least two different spots a chapter starts out describing something that just happened which wasn’t in the text at all. Of course, not every moment of Eliza’s time needs to be accounted for to enjoy the story, but in both of these occasions the missing tales are rather important and I am left wondering what was behind the choice to leave them out completely.I am also rather confused as to Isabella’s motivations near the end of the book (that’s a tip-toe around a spoiler if I’ve ever written one), but Boyne did a good job of making her just enough of a throw-away character to not be too worried about her choices, and to be surprised at the end.I really did enjoy this book and it flew by. A perfect read for a dark and stormy evening.Trigger Warnings: violence, gore, sexual abuse of children (insinuated), incest (insinuated), mental illness.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    4.5 starsIt is the mid-19th century. When Eliza's father dies suddenly, she answers an ad to be a governess. She is accepted on the spot, so travels out to Gaudlin Hall, where she will be the new governess to two children. Odd, though – when she arrives, their parents are no where to be found and no one will answer Eliza's questions about what's going on.I really liked this. I thought it was very creepy and I wish I would have had longer stretches of time to read it all at once (including just before bed... when I had the time, but I couldn't stay awake – but that was nothing to do with the story!). I certainly wanted to keep reading to see what was going on! It will likely make my favourites list for the year.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Eliza Caine lives a settled existence in London with her widowed father, until he suddenly passes away. Enveloped in grief, she replies to an advert in the newspaper about the post of a governess in Norfolk. Being given the job, and on her way to Gaudlin Hall, she is suddenly struck by the strangeness of the advertisement, but nothing can have prepared her for the situation she finds herself in when she finally arrives at her destination.I rather liked the first few chapters, with its dreary, yet evocative, London setting, but then things went rapidly downhill: if it's possible to write a boring ghost story, then this is surely it. Gaudlin Hall is nearly devoid of atmosphere, and while the resident spirit is certainly malicious, the spooky goings-on left me quite cold, and there were few surprises, the whole plot plodding down well-trodden paths. Not once did my spine tingle, as the blurb announces so proudly. I think this is partly due to the main character Eliza being a somewhat irritating narrator, prone to inappropriate outbursts of laughter and comments towards other adults and even her charges, and I felt the rather clumsy attempts to add a dash of romance to the proceedings entirely misplaced. Add to this a couple of mild contradictions and inconsistencies, and I was only too happy to part with this book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This House Is Haunted is a striking homage to the classic nineteenth century ghost story. Set in Norfolk in 1867, Eliza Caine responds to an ad for a governess position at Gaudlin Hall. When she arrives at the hall, shaken by an unsettling disturbance that occurred during her travels, she is greeted by the two children now in her care, Isabella and Eustace. There is no adult present to represent her mysterious employer, and the children offer no explanation. Later that night in her room, another terrifying experience further reinforces the sense that something is very wrong.

    From the moment Eliza rises the following morning, her every step seems dogged by a malign presence that lives within Gaudlin’s walls. Eliza realizes that if she and the children are to survive its violent attentions, she must first uncover the hall’s long-buried secrets and confront the demons of its past. Clever, captivating, and witty, This House Is Haunted is pure entertainment with a catch.


    How can you not love a book whose first sentence is “I blame Charles Dickens for the death of my father...” a glorious, captivating mash up of Jane Eyre, Turn of the Screw, Rebecca and the film The Others.

    This House bears all the hallmarks (or clichés depending on your viewpoint) of a Gothic ghost story, written in the first person, a plucky heroine who has bitten off rather more than she an chew, surly locals who know more than they are saying, warnings from random strangers and of course persistent fog. Beautifully written, well paced with escalating tension though the ending was a little disappointing

    An enjoyable read
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Dickensian? No. The writing is nowhere near good enough for that kind of comparison. Good premise, dull execution.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    "I blame Charles Dickens for the death of my father". Who can fail to be intrigued by this opening line? Despite having all the components of a book that I wouldn't have expected to like - gothic, Victorian, ghosts - I absolutely loved this story. In it, Eliza Caine, having lost her beloved father, moves from London to Norfolk to take up a role as governess to two children at Gaudlin Hall. But nothing is as it should be and Eliza becomes more and more convinced of a malevolent force at work.Maybe it's the quality of John Boyne's writing (Crippen is one of my favourite books and who can forget the wonderful The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas) but he managed to write a ghost book that rang true to me which not many do. Eliza herself tells the story and I liked her voice very much. She is a level-headed narrator who tells a completely plausible story.I raced through this book and couldn't wait to find out what would happen next. And as well as the great opening lines, the book ends with a sinister, but not completely unexpected, turn of events. I enjoyed it all immensely.Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for providing a copy for review.