Tale of Halcyon Crane

by Wendy Webb

Book Overview

A young woman travels alone to a remote island to uncover a past she never knew was hers in this thrilling modern ghost story

When a mysterious letter lands in Hallie James's mailbox, her life is upended. Hallie was raised by her loving father, having been told her mother died in a fire decades earlier. But it turns out that her mother, Madlyn, was alive until very recently. Why would Hallie's father have taken her away from Madlyn?...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805091408
• ISBN13: 9780805091403
• Release Date: March 2010
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Oh please.

The first half of this book was pretty good and I was looking forward to settling in and tearing through it. Unfortunately, that's when it got predictable and silly. Stop me if you've heard this one. Following a rough patch, Our Heroine goes back to Ye Olde Hometown, where local hunk so-and-so still lives. Sparks fly. Will Our Heroine let the past ruin everything or will she turn the page on new happiness with Hunky? Oh...you've heard it before. This novel is supposed to be a spooky mystery but the only one who is mystified is the protagonist, Hallie. The reader figures stuff out long before our Bo Peep does. By the time her penny drops, the reader is like, "Well duh, Toots." As for the spooks, they pinch, they push, they trip you going down the hall! AAIIEEE! I've seen scarier toddlers. Moreover, the protagonist is a gullible pushover (except for a single scene where she steps wildly out of character and tells some dopey locals in a coffee shop where to get off. Then she's right back to being Miss Gee Whiz/ Kick Me.) The setting, based on Michigan's Mackinac Island, is nice. If only everything else were half as inspired. Give this a pass.

Throbs with the threat of menace

Hallie receives a posthumous letter from a mother she thought had perished in a fire when she was a toddler. She is devastated to find out that her mother had been alive until recently and that all this time she thought Hallie and her father had drowned years ago. Hallie also finds out that she is now the heiress to a fortune and an old mansion in the Great Lakes area. When Hallie goes back to claim her inheritance and find out what caused her beloved father to fake their deaths and run away with her, she finds a community that is suspicious and openly hostile. It turns out that before their disappearance, her father had been suspected of committing a horrific crime. Hallie has inherited not only a house and a fortune, but a strange history of family tragedy as well. "'I don't want you to go back there, Hallie,' my father said to me. 'It's not safe for you... Look,' he said, pointing across the water. I turned my head toward the island, which was coming closer and closer. What I saw horrified me: hundreds, maybe thousands, of writhing beings, some in water, some on land. I believed they were ghosts or spirits of some kind, moving in slow motion, all of them looking at me with empty eyes. They were trying to speak, but their mouths were dark, empty shells. "My father spoke. 'You see now, Hallie. That's why I took you away.'" Hallie decides to stay at the old family mansion she inherited to clear her dead father's name and discover what really happened all those years ago. In a taut and spinetingling narrative, Webb expertly weaves a story of malicious ghosts, a witch, black magic, murder, and a legacy of hauntings that have troubled generations of her mother's family. Will Hallie succumb to the curse that has befallen her ancestors or will she be the one to finally break it? The Tale of Halcyon Crane by Wendy Webb throbs with the threat of menace; this is an atmospheric, gothic story reminiscent of Turn of the Screw and had me racing to the finish late into the night to find out what happens next. Read this book - but do not do so when you're alone in the house at night and there's a storm outside, like I did. Big mistake. Creeped me out so much that I avoided going downstairs to get the laundry till morning.

A modern gothic novel...

I loved this book! It was like reading an old gothic mystery. It's set on a island that doesn't have cell phone service or allow cars (horses and buggies used). It's a tourist town in the summer but our heroine (Hallie James) is there in the off season so it's pretty much deserted. So the setting is a desolate island with a hilltop mansion filled with ghosts. That gives you an idea what is coming. The heroine's father has just died and she recieves a letter from a dead woman saying she was her mother. Hallie's father had told her the woman died in a fire years ago. Hallie goes to the island to learn more and finds she has inherited the mansion and can never sell it. She also learns her father faked his and Hallie's death 30 years ago and now she must unravel the mystery of why he did that and if he had really killed a six year old child as everyone is saying. And is she really 'seeing' things that happened a hundred years ago or is she going crazy? There's romance for Hallie although it is not dwelled on (Thank you, Mrs. Webb for staying with the mystery!) Also Hallie is 35 which is a little older than the heroines of most of the old gothics, but it works. There has been a family curse on each member of the family and each is explored and explained (no loose ends left dangling at end of book), witches, ghosts, second sight, etc. You won't be disappointed. It was like reading a Barbara Michaels, Victoria Holt, Phyllis Whitney, or Mary Stewart novel.

Captivating ghost story...

I haven't read a good ghost story in awhile until, "The Tale of Halcyon Crane"! I absolutely adored this novel and the spine-tingling goosebump feeling that it provided. Beginning the novel last night, I didn't plan on staying up until the early morning reading... but that is what happened. I couldn't put it down and I refused to walk around my dark apartment which tells me that this was a worthy ghost story (atleast in my book). Without being able to get into the specifics of the novel it is very difficult to really convey what I loved. One shouldn't go into the specifics of the characters and the backstory because it will ruin the "ghost" aspect of it. The location, details and characters just sang to me. This is the author's debut novel and I have found her writing to be very compelling and romantically gothic. This isn't a romance... this is a ghost story that weaves in an out and eventually you will find yourself caught in the web along with the characters that you are reading about. Within the books pages, you will be intrigued by the mystery, ghosts, witchcraft, character interactions, locale and most importantly your protagonist Miss Hallie James and the piece of the puzzle that she possesses and we are seeking. Highly recommend to all lovers of ghost stories and locations that build and culminate at the very end of the story. As you are reading, you will have figured out a bit or two; but I feel that the author allows us these little tidbits because she further takes you to another place that you didn't see coming. I was wonderfully surprised after feeling so "smart" in having solved a piece of the puzzle and then shocked back into the realization that I was Ms. Webb's personal plaything and I had just been taken along for a wonderfully creepy ride! In the right hands, this story would be wonderfully creepy on the big screen.

the gothic novel reinvented(and it's pretty good!)

Creepy houses, strange childhood memories, ghostly apparitions and hidden family secrets. Yeah, sounds like one of those long, and impossibly to finish Victorian gothic novels. But "The Tale of Halcyon Crane" feels very modern, despite having some familiar elements in it. I really liked how despite the language being very simple, it was still very descriptive(as in, you can almost imagine what the settings of the book look like). Plus, I really loved that the author chose to name the main character Halcyon(sounds pretty cool,doesn't it). The main character goes through a lot(oh boy, does she ever), learning more about herself than she probably thought she wood. The ending of this book really does reward the reader. I won't spoil it here, except to say that it was both spooky and sweet. :) At the very end of the book, there is a special 'get to know the author' section. It's structured like an interview, and gives a reader a behind the scenes look of how "The Tale of Halcyon Crane" was created. Warning: only read it after you've finished the book, as there are potential spoilers there! Can't wait to see what else Wendy Webb comes up with in the future.

A fast read with plenty of mystery

This book is about a woman whose life was lived believing a lie about her mother's death. As it turns out, her mother was very much alive and resided on a island harboring generations-old secrets of witchcraft and the supernatural. Up until she found out her mother was alive, she had been living a life that never quite suited her - full of disappointment and unsolved curiosity about her family. In returning to the island home of her ancestors, she found a place where she truly belonged. Unfortunately, there were many twists and turns that would make her realize how deeply rooted some secrets can be. I realize the above is cryptic, but I don't want to give away the story. There is so much mystery here! Surmise it to say there are freaky occurrences, presences, and ghosts... and a love story to boot. I picked this book up thinking I'd just read parts here and there - but I couldn't put it down. I stayed up almost all night reading it. The story just flows easily and doesn't get slowed down in the details. A great read!