Her writing clicks with me. It tends to be obsessive, circling, repetitive, hypnotising. I don’t and will never read her books in French, I think you’d lost so much of the rhythm of the text, of those huntings words that makes her works so unique and page-turners. Her characters are all in their heads, they’re mostly socially awkward or withdrawn but a lot is going on in their minds and I relate to that.
Cassidy is no exception, this little teen girl has a constant storm inside her head, as well as ghost for a best-friend, which, you know, can casually hear her every thought…“This is just a change of setting, a new storyline, a fresh chapter. We have a whole book to write,” she says, squeezing me around the shoulders, “and how do we write it?”
“One page at a time”, I say automatically.”
I don’t think I’m mistaking when saying I’ve never read a middle-grade book before? I was kind of hesitant in doing so, because you cannot go as dark as Victoria Schwab likes to do… But oh well, I just got to learn to trust her! Because for a children story, holy molly was it dark! The little ghosts… Their stories were heartbreaking! And Cassidy’s helplessness is too. But then, her irresponsible, crazy, obsessive parents take her to Edinburgh and oh boy… It’s under their noses but they don’t see it. Cassidy is drawn in the Ghosts world with such an old city and obviously when the big bad villain comes up, not only is it such a good idea, but the author is not afraid to go all in! Children can read about dark themes, children need to read about them, to process them but also to be able to relate to something they may have experience and have no one to talk to about it: grief, loss, sadness, loneliness. Schwab touches on them all.“One foot in winter and one in spring.
One foot with the living and one with the dead.”
“My camera was on the bedside table, the purple strap frayed and the viewfinder cracked. It was damaged but not ruined, changed but not destroyed. Kind of like me. A little special. A little strange.”
But it’s fun too, ironically. Cass is quick-witted, her best-friend (a ghost!!!! what a genius idea!) is a sweetheart, the whole system is so well thought and built. Edinburgh is mezmerising. I love the fact that she actually used her main character’s passion as a weapon, even if we’re talking about photography! And the action never stops. Honestly, once you’ve opened it, you have to finish it. I cannot wait for the second volume!
I think what I loved the most, though, is how it reminded me of Meredith, the heroin of“People think that ghosts only come out at night, or on Halloween, when the world is dark and the walls are thin. But the truth is, ghosts are everywhere. In the bread aisle at your grocery store, in the middle of you grandmother’s garden, in the front seat on your bus. Just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t there.”
Published by
Aux Mots Insatiables 
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