1fgm
This book is fiction.
I believe I read it around 1990-92.
The book seems to have been written for early teens or perhaps younger.
Plot--
A young girl befriends the ghost of another young girl. There is a mysterious doll involved somehow. I think she also befriends a young gypsy boy and either his mother or grandmother.
Some specific things I remember from the book--
At one point there is a birthday party where the main character and the other girls are playing some game outside. The ghost girl decides to help her friend terrorize the other girls by walking towards them from a distance with arms outstretched...or something like that.
Also, at the end of the book the main character is forced to destroy the doll by going to the gypsies for help. They perform some ritual and end up burning the doll in a fire. While doing this, they hear the sound of hooves running outside the tent and the grandmother says something like "That is the devil, its master..." or something like that.
At first, this book may sound like The Doll in the Garden by Mary Downing Hahn, and I guess there is a small chance that it actually is, and that my memory of what happened in the book is inaccurate, but I am almost certain that it is NOT this book.
I believe I read it around 1990-92.
The book seems to have been written for early teens or perhaps younger.
Plot--
A young girl befriends the ghost of another young girl. There is a mysterious doll involved somehow. I think she also befriends a young gypsy boy and either his mother or grandmother.
Some specific things I remember from the book--
At one point there is a birthday party where the main character and the other girls are playing some game outside. The ghost girl decides to help her friend terrorize the other girls by walking towards them from a distance with arms outstretched...or something like that.
Also, at the end of the book the main character is forced to destroy the doll by going to the gypsies for help. They perform some ritual and end up burning the doll in a fire. While doing this, they hear the sound of hooves running outside the tent and the grandmother says something like "That is the devil, its master..." or something like that.
At first, this book may sound like The Doll in the Garden by Mary Downing Hahn, and I guess there is a small chance that it actually is, and that my memory of what happened in the book is inaccurate, but I am almost certain that it is NOT this book.
2ForeignCircus
Bella by Anne Syfret is another scary doll horror story. I don't remember much about the details of the plot, but I remember being really freaked when I read it back in the day...
4fgm
No, it doesn't look like it.
Since I haven't been able to find a single thing about this book as far as I can tell, I'm starting to wonder if the "doll" is referred to as something else in the book--you'd think that using that as a search term would get some results.
But anyway, at first the ghost of the girl appears to be friendly but becomes a little more malevolent, and is tied to the doll or figurine or whatever it is.
I'm pretty sure that there was a birthday party like I wrote before. They are playing outside since it is out in the countryside, maybe some kind of hide and seek or something, some of them get stuck in the woods and that is when the ghost can be seen from a distance walking towards them with arms outstretched, saying things like "I'm coming for you." Creepy. And then of course they are all very upset when their parents arrive.
Also, as they are burning the doll/figurine I remember a description of its arms and legs "moving" in the fire, like it is alive or something.
Man, I really want to find this book again :(
Since I haven't been able to find a single thing about this book as far as I can tell, I'm starting to wonder if the "doll" is referred to as something else in the book--you'd think that using that as a search term would get some results.
But anyway, at first the ghost of the girl appears to be friendly but becomes a little more malevolent, and is tied to the doll or figurine or whatever it is.
I'm pretty sure that there was a birthday party like I wrote before. They are playing outside since it is out in the countryside, maybe some kind of hide and seek or something, some of them get stuck in the woods and that is when the ghost can be seen from a distance walking towards them with arms outstretched, saying things like "I'm coming for you." Creepy. And then of course they are all very upset when their parents arrive.
Also, as they are burning the doll/figurine I remember a description of its arms and legs "moving" in the fire, like it is alive or something.
Man, I really want to find this book again :(
5Nerilka
Maybe A Candle in her Room by Ruth M. Arthur?
6POLLYPIPS
I really want you to find this book again!!
I want to read it after reading your description of it :)
I want to read it after reading your description of it :)
7fgm
Hi guys,
Thanks for the responses so far, I really appreciate it. I had a chance to look through A Candle in her Room over the weekend and despite some of the similarities it is not the same book. I'm starting to wonder if my memory of the book has become somewhat distorted, although I'm positive about the two parts that I described above. I'm wondering now if I've come across it already but couldn't recognize it.
Oh well, I'll keep looking!
Thanks for the responses so far, I really appreciate it. I had a chance to look through A Candle in her Room over the weekend and despite some of the similarities it is not the same book. I'm starting to wonder if my memory of the book has become somewhat distorted, although I'm positive about the two parts that I described above. I'm wondering now if I've come across it already but couldn't recognize it.
Oh well, I'll keep looking!
9franzeska
I have no idea what the book is, but if 'doll' isn't turning up search results, you could try 'poppet'.
10Losver_Pennywise
Possibly "Doll Bones"?
11goodthatcat
I was also searching for the book OP posted about for YEARS. This post actually helped me significantly because they were able to remember specific phrases like the devil, his master, and some specific details I couldn't quite coalesce into words like how the doll writhed in the fire.
And thank you because I finally found this book again after searching for years! I really hope that OP either found this book on their own or this necro post will reach them: Haunting at Mill Lane by Ken Radford (1983).
It's free to be borrowed from openlibrary.com
And thank you because I finally found this book again after searching for years! I really hope that OP either found this book on their own or this necro post will reach them: Haunting at Mill Lane by Ken Radford (1983).
It's free to be borrowed from openlibrary.com
