Helen and Nate have searched everywhere for the perfect
house for them, finally deciding to build it themselves.
The land they purchase has a dark history, however, as
Hattie Breckenridge was burned as a witch in the early
1920s. Meanwhile, a fourteen-year-old neighbor of Helen and
Nate is also interested in the land they have purchased. Her
missing mother told her a treasure was hidden in the bog and
Olive wants to find the treasure- and discover where her mom
went when she left her and her dad. What answers will they
find hidden in the bog?
I love ghost stories and thoroughly enjoyed one of Jennifer
McMahon's earlier books, THE WINTER
PEOPLE. I'm afraid my high expectations somewhat skewed
my enjoyment of THE INVITED, which is a solid book in its
own rights but is nowhere as creepy as THE WINTER
PEOPLE. THE INVITED is more eerie than it is scary.
Jennifer McMahon weaves THE INVITED seamlessly between past
and present, crafting a tale that slowly engages the reader.
The pace is a bit leisurely, but the vivid descriptions and
strong character depictions push the plot forward. If you
like ghost stories that are more atmospheric than creepy,
then give THE INVITED a try.
A chilling ghost story with a twist: the New York
Times bestselling author of The Winter People
returns to the woods of Vermont to tell the story of a
husband and wife who don’t simply move into a haunted
house—they build one…
In a quest for a simpler life, Helen and Nate have abandoned
the comforts of suburbia to take up residence on forty-four
acres of rural land where they will begin the ultimate,
aspirational do-it-yourself project: building the house of
their dreams. When they discover that this beautiful
property has a dark and violent past, Helen, a former
history teacher, becomes consumed by the local legend of
Hattie Breckenridge, a woman who lived and died there a
century ago. With her passion for artifacts, Helen finds
special materials to incorporate into the house—a beam from
an old schoolroom, bricks from a mill, a mantel from a
farmhouse—objects that draw her deeper into the story of
Hattie and her descendants, three generations of
Breckenridge women, each of whom died suspiciously. As the
building project progresses, the house will become a place
of menace and unfinished business: a new home, now haunted,
that beckons its owners and their neighbors toward
unimaginable danger.