THE GHOST IN THE GARDEN

In Lee’s middle-grade ghost story, a young girl is threatened by a dangerous spirit.

When Sophie moves during summer vacation from her beloved big-city Calgary in Canada’s Alberta province to small-town Stratford in Ontario, she dreads the “social doom” of starting sixth grade in a school where she will be both the new kid and the daughter of the new guidance counselor, her dad. Yet she can’t help but like the 19th-century house her parents bought, with its intriguing, overgrown garden and a turret bedroom she’s claimed for her own. But who is Tabitha, the girl in the garden, whose hands are so cold and who disappears with ninja stealth when anyone but Sophie is near? And why does the closed door to Sophie’s bedroom closet open at night to a darkness that “felt like its own living, breathing entity,” plunging Sophie into waking nightmares? A finger, “old and gnarled with age,” brushing her cheek is only her first disturbing contact with a malevolent spirit. An atmosphere of escalating unease ramps up the chills in this portrayal of an 11-year-old girl in ghostly danger. Suspense and scares are expertly balanced with Sophie’s empathy for Tabitha and her well-drawn camaraderie with Fitz, a boy her age who becomes a supportive friend. Less successful is the depiction of Sophie’s parents’ belated, casual, even obtuse reactions to unsettling occurrences. (Oblivious when Fritz installs a sturdy lock on the closet door, Sophie’s science-minded dad insists that a trapped possum must have caused the dramatic damage that follows.) In the end, with help from Fitz, a history teacher who “believes all sorts of strange things,” and a performance of Hamlet, Sophie pieces together what is happening and risks her life to confront the threatening spirit. Cryptic mentions of a mysterious gate in town and the 100-year-old ruins of a mill may signal more adventures for Sophie and Fitz to come.

A resourceful heroine shines in a shivery treat for young fans of paranormal fiction.