An approriatley creepy October read that FLIES by despite it's massive size. I really enjoyed the half text/half art format and would love to read more graphic novels that way. I thought the plot itself was nothing special (a bit predictable, really) but I felt so much sympathy for Mary as a character; she was very well written. This felt like a more YA version of "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" and I think a lot of readers will enjoy that. ( )

solid creepy graphic novel hybrid. I am still not sure what happened exactly, but I enjoyed this super quick read. ( )

Beautiful, dark tale of a lonely girl living in an unfriendly orphanage, called Thornhill. The prose part is the diary of the girl, Mary, in 1982, and is interspersed by sequences of full-page black&white illustrations, telling the story of another young girl, Ella, growing up in the shadow of Thornhill in 2017, and learning of its dark past. So, not a cheery tale. But Smy pulls it off really well — it's very engaging, and the interplay of diary pages and illustrations works exceedingly well. Might have liked a slightly more nuanced, complex ending, but a very good book. Beautiful edition too. ( )

I wish I could give it more stars but I can't. This is one of the best books I think I've ever read. I read it in about 2 hours without stopping and I will probably read it again very soon!! ( )

This story is about an orphan, Mary, who was bullied in 1982. Her section of the book is told through journal entries. At the same time, there are many full-page illustrations telling the story of Ella, a girl who has moved next door to the old orphanage in 2017.

This was both sad and disturbing. I am not sure what age group this was meant for. The writing was more middle grade, but the actual content was more appropriate for an older age group.
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