The Haunting of Charity Delafield [Kindle Edition]

The Haunting of Charity Delafield' is a charming little book which would make the perfect Christmas present, with its gorgeous gold edged cover and pocket size - just right for slipping into someone's Christmas stocking. Although aimed at a slightly younger audience, the story is so exquisite that I think older readers will be won over by it too.

It tells the story of Charity Delafield who lives in a big house with her father, servants and adorable cat Mr Tompkins. Apart from the kindly servants who look after Charity like she is their own daughter, Mr Tompkins is her only friend and companion and has a habit of frequently sneaking onto her bed at night. He's so adorable that I wish I had a cat just like him! Charity has been protected and cosseted all her life and has no real knowledge of life outside her small world. She doesn't see or play with other children and isn't even allowed to explore the whole of the house, most of which is kept locked up. When she's told by her father that she's going to be sent away to a boarding school, Charity is understandably upset but this sets in motion a chain of events which leads to her eventually finding out the truth about her family and the mysterious disappearance of her mother when she was a baby.

I really loved this delightful story which I can see myself picking up to read again and again. It's fairly short so ideal for frequent re-reads but is packed full of charm and is a simply wonderful little book. I loved the character of Chairty and the servants who look after her. They're always slipping her squares of chocolate or steaming mugs of hot chocolate and they treat her like she's their own. I also liked Silas Jones, the kind-hearted chimney sweep's boy who befriends Charity and helps her to unravel the long-buried secret about her mother. It's sad to think that she's never had a friend before but in Silas she finds someone her own age who she can have fun with and their friendship blossoms throughout the book.

The plot actually took an unexpected turn in the second half and I was surprised by the direction which the story ended up taking. However, there's a lovely fairytale quality about the book and this worked well with the second-half of the story which leads Charity on a real magical adventure, beyond the realms of anything she could have dreamt of.

The ending was beautifully written and in my opinion, absolutely perfect. If you like happy endings then you'll love this one!

The Haunting of Charity Delafield is a beautiful book with fairytale like qualities which make is a completely charming read right from the first word through to the very last. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

From the very outset you fall straight in love with Charity as a character who is essentially a very lonely little girl having spent her entire life living within the confines of the grounds of a giant house, half of which is locked up and out of bounds, talking to no one except the house keeping staff employed by her Father. Therefore her view on the world as she sees it is quite unique. One morning she is told by her father that she will shortly be sent to live at a boarding school near Cromer on the North Norfolk Coast for her education which throws her entirely. (On a totally geeky note I loved the idea that there was a castle-esque boarding school near Cromer in this book. I want it to be built tomorrow and move in!!)

The main story finally starts after two events. The first is when she meets a mysterious old lady at the fence of her house who gives her a cryptic message to do with Charity's Mother whom she has been lead to believe is dead and the second is when she finds a key that opens part of the house that has been out of bounds as long as Charity can remember. In there she finds an ultra creepy cot with a pair of scissors dangling over directly over it, a strange diary and a portrait of her mother. This leads her to a series of events which leads her on a quest to find out more about her mysterious and absent mother which she has to do in secret so not to anger her very strict father.

All the characters you meet along the way are interesting for a whole variety of reasons and well written and I enjoyed meeting all of them but I particularly liked the relationship Charity built up with her first ever friend Silas.

The ending of the book, which I don't want to give much away about, went in a completely different direction than what I ever thought it was going to take which was fantastic as I often find books can be entirely too predictable which this wasn't.

Definitely a book I would recommend to others as it is a charming, well written and beautifully fairytale-esque.

The Haunting of Charity Delafield is a captivating novel - the captivation starts with its gorgeously rich front cover picture, which immediately drew my eye in the bookshop. The author - who drew the front cover - also paints visual pictures with his words and the story of a young girl's awakening to who she really is, is vividly told.
The story is engaging and is a quick read. The only draw back for me was that the characters seemed rather underdeveloped and the high crisis points of drama resolved themselves easily and conveniently. I never got a sense that Charity was ever in any danger.
The ending was pleasing and I enjoyed it's "happily ever after" feel good factor.
I would recommend this story to children - say 7 to 10 year olds - and not to adult readers who like fantasy fiction.