Ammie Come Home

In honor of Halloween I thought I would share a recommendation for one of my all time favorite ghost stories, Ammie Come Home by Elizabeth Peters. I first read this novel in Junior High. I promptly read it to my younger sisters (who loved it as much as I did, getting teary-eyed with delicious little chills of terror at the spookiest parts). Actually, it wasn’t until I was reading the thing outloud that I finally realized I’d got the title wrong: until then I was still calling it AMY Come Home. That’s how fast I read it the first time through.

It begins as a lark — a harmless diversion initiated by Washington, D.C., hostess Ruth Bennett as a means of entertaining her visiting niece, Sara. But the séance conducted in Ruth’s elegant Georgetown home calls something back; something unwelcome … and palpably evil. Suddenly Sara is speaking in a voice not her own, transformed into a miserable, whimpering creature so unlike her normal, sensible self. No tricks or talismans will dispel the malevolence that now plagues the inhabitants of this haunted place — until a dark history of treachery, lust, and violence is exposed. But the cost might well be the sanity and the lives of the living.

My favorite ghost stories combine romance and mystery with the supernatural, and Ammie Comes Home does all that. Plus Michaels puts in just enough laughs. It’s pretty much there on my top 100 books of all times (because, seriously, what book lover has a list of TOP TEN BOOKS?! What kind of book lover is that?)

Any Halloween recs of your own? Oh, and what costume are you wearing this year?

4 Responses to “Ammie Come Home”

1. Spooky, Diana. And, there’s no way I could parse my favorite books down to 10, certainly not an “All Time Favorite” list!

   by Sara on October 27th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
   
   

2. Diana,

   A favorite 100 list sounds about right. Ammie Come Home (and, yes, I say Amy, still) is good, but, not being one for ghost stories, I actually like the “sequel” Shattered Silk much better. I love all the characters in the first two books, though. They’re so well-written. I did NOT care for whatever-the-heck-the-third-one-is, though. But really, for very good “ghosty” stories, you can’t beat Barbara Michaels.

   This Halloween, I might dig out Rear Window and watch that. Or maybe I’ll borrow my sister’s copy of the Johnny Depp movie Sleepy Hollow and finally watch it after all these years…..

   I really miss that old “Wonderful World of Disney” special they did every Halloween when I was a kid. The “villians” did an all about us show with the mirror from Snow White as emcee. And they ended it with a Sleepy Hollow short that always fascinated me. Does anyone remember that but me? And does anyone know where I might find a copy?

   by The Other Laura on October 27th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
   
   

3. ‘Ammie, Come Home’ is one of my favorites, too, Diana. Along with a lot of MPM’s other books. That scene in the house, when Pat turns into… anyway, brrrr!

   Lillian Stewart Carl is also excellent, if you haven’t tried her. ‘Shadows in Scarlet’ (you’ll recognize the nod, I’m sure) is great fun. There’s a sex scene with the ghost that’s worth the price of the book. All her books are excellent, though; ‘Ashes to Ashes’ and ‘Dust to Dust’ are great, as is the Jean Fairbairn/Alistair Cameron series. They mix contemporary murders with historical mysteries and ghostly apparitions, and like Ruth and Pat, Jean and Alistair are “older”, i.e., over 40. (Where I am too, now…)

   by JennieB on October 27th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
   
   

4. I’m a bit late reading this but I did have to comment. I have read all of those Barbara Michaels books and can tell you that all of them in that genre gave me chills. You know the sign of a terrific storyteller? When you have to sleep with the light on after reading his/her book.

   by Allison on October 29th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
   
   

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