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Sometimes, the title of a novel can be a bit misleading. In those cases, even if the novel still turns out to be a pretty good read, you can’t help but feel a little bit disappointed—because you didn’t get what you expected. That’s what happened when I read Sandra Sookoo’s The Haunting of Amelia Pritchart—because I expected it to be scarier.
As the novella begins, Amelia Pritchart awakens in the middle of the night to a cold room and a ghost who immediately begins to interact with her—answering questions and asking for a favor.
When Amelia started renovating the 100-year-old Victorian house that she moved into after separating from her husband, she woke up the ghost of Elizabeth Amelia Hiatt. Elizabeth died of the Spanish Flu at the age of nineteen, on Christmas Day in 1918. Since her spirit is unable to move on or leave the house, she asks Amelia for her help in carrying out her unfinished business.
On All Hallow’s Eve, spirits are allowed to return to their human state for 24 hours. Elizabeth asks Amelia to find a descendant of a man named Samuel Pritchart Carmichael—because she has something to confess.
After the ghost dissipates, Amelia’s estranged husband, Jonathan, shows up on her doorstep with his own bizarre ghost story. So as they work through their martial problems, they also try to figure out a way to help the ghost of Elizabeth Hiatt so she can finally rest in eternal peace.
Though The Haunting of Amelia Pritchart isn’t particularly frightening, it’s still a fascinating story about a ghost who is finally able to tell her story and seek a resolution to her predicament. It’s also the story of a husband and wife who are trying to save their marriage, even as Amelia overcomplicates things with unfounded fears about how they came together.
In my opinion, the ghost’s story is much more interesting than the husband and wife’s—and that’s what kept me reading. However, if you’re looking for a spooky little story for Halloween, you won’t get the chills with this one. The Haunting of Amelia Pritchart is mostly a story about a love that survives even beyond death. It will leave you feeling as if love can truly be eternal—and if that’s enough for you, you’ll be delighted by Sandra Sookoo’s The Haunting of Amelia Pritchart.
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