The Girl in White by Lindsay Currie – Book Review

A huge thank you to Sourcebooks Kids and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of The Girl in White by Lindsay Currie in exchange for an honest review.

What It Is About

Sweet Molly once lived in Eastport
Sweet Molly once loved the sea
Sweet Molly lost Liam to the shadows
Now Sweet Molly is coming for ye…

Eastport is a small town famous for its legends of ghosts, curses and haunted places, and the locals are doing whatever they can to keep that reputation going. More scary stories mean more tourists and more money for the town.

Mallory isn’t quite thrilled with that. Ever since she moved to Eastport with her parents, she’s been having weird nightmares about a creepy old lady, as well as the feeling that she’s being watched.

But then she meets the woman from her dreams in the broad daylight and everything goes from unsettling to downright terrifying. Now Mallory has to consider that maybe some of the local legends hold some truth in them.

Even more frightening – more and more details connect the weird old lady with the scariest legend of all – Sweet Molly. And she seems to be out for revenge…

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Themes and vibes:

• • moody, atmospheric and spooky vibes
  • small Halloween-year-round town
  • tormented, vengeful ghost
  • perfect autumn read
  • a dash of mystery
    

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The Girl in White by Lindsay Currie – My Review

Everyone has bad dreams, but not everyone has the same one almost every single night. Then again, not everyone lives in Eastport, Massachusetts. Otherwise known as the most cursed city in the USA.

Happy publication date to The Girl in White by Lindsay Currie!

I can’t say I read a lot of middle grade, but when I do, it’s usually the creepy, horror kind. Nothing like childhood nightmares to complement the chill of early autumn days, and I make sure to have at least a couple of these every October.

This year I started early. I just couldn’t pass on an arc of a spooky ghost story written by Lindsay Currie, the author of Scritch Scratch, amongst other things.

And The Girl in White was in many ways exactly what I expected it to be. It is a story set in a fictional little town where every day feels like Halloween.

The decorations, gloomy atmosphere, fake and real graveyards, ghostly parades, and of course the locals always ready to spook you out with stories of curses and unusual deaths… Almost like you somehow ended up in the Addams’ family home, except this book was a bit less creepy and a bit more cozy. Which makes sense for a middle grade.

Still, The Girl in White had enough chilling, gothicy aspects to keep you on the edge of your seat.

“Don’t look at me. I’ve always thought the legends around here are stupid. If you believe them all, practically everywhere is either haunted or cursed.”

We follow twelve-year-old Mallory, who doesn’t think all the scary stories are fun. One, because she doesn’t believe in them. And two, because they still seem to somehow affect her, and she keeps having the same nightmare over and over again.

But there’s no escaping ghost talk in Eastport. Halloween is everywhere, including her family’s restaurant. I loved all the names for the meals her parents were coming up with, to try and keep up with the tourists’ demands!

Unlike a normal shaped biscuit, Dad’s are shaped like tombstones. The steam rising off of them reminds me of Eastport’s cemeteries on foggy mornings.

Mallory is trying to be a good sport, because she can understand that her parents are only doing what they can to keep the business running. And because the said business is paying for Harbor Point, a private art school where Mallory can take photography classes, which makes it pretty much her favorite place in the world.

But then the eerie, unexplainable things start happening directly to Mallory. And there’s no escaping the fact something paranormal is behind it. Of course, she now has to figure out what exactly is going on, or else.

So, the premise was great, and so were the setting and all the spooky little details. Even the weather was used to a great extent to fully showcase the ghost’s suffering and anger.

And other than the moody, strange, atmospheric narration, The Girl in White had a couple more wonderful elements to offer.

They do all agree on one thing though—her spirit roams the coastline by the lighthouse late at night, and if you dare to cross paths with her, she’ll drag you beneath the frigid waters and into a watery grave as revenge.

First, there was the mystery. All the unusual and terrifying events couldn’t possibly be explained unless you accepted that some of the ghost stories might be more than urban legends.

And then, even when they more or less figured out the who, there were still many questions they needed to answer, most important being how to stop it.

Also, I loved the friendship aspect of this story. Dealing with something paranormal would be the scariest thing ever for pretty much anyone. The only thing that could make it even a little bit better would be if you don’t have to go through it all alone.

It was also great that there were a couple of bumps between friends. Just little somethings to overcome and grow from.

I said I was going to be a good friend to Bri and I am. Problem is, for the first time ever, being a good friend might mean not supporting her.

The only thing that could have made The Girl in White even better was if we got more from the ghost. Her character was a bit underdeveloped, which is a shame because there was a lot of potential for a truly remarkable villain.

Though the question of who the real villain of this story was remains.

Anyways. If a moody, gloomy middle grade ghost story sounds good to you right now, The Girl in White by Lindsay Currie is out today (September 6th, 2022) and it is perfect for this time of year, to set the atmosphere.

The story was set in October, and the town was already as gothically picturesque as they get. Honestly, I’d love to see this book adapted as a movie. The story was pretty visual and I think it would look great on screen.