Jasmine lives alone in the house. It’s her whole world. It caters for her every need. The doors are locked, but that doesn’t matter, because there’s nothing outside.
One day, on the staircase, she meets another little girl who thinks the same. And Cassia will change her life forever.
A haunted house . . . two haunted girls . . . the diary of a lost boy.
Why is the house so keen to hide the truth from them? And who, or what, is the ghost?
Dark bleatings, my lovely tribe. I picked this book up from Tim agggggeees ago, but thanks to my eternal physical TBR, it’s taken me forever to get to it. And this is what I have to say….
What a beautiful, utter spectacle this entire book is. I firstly must rave about the artwork because, holy balls, it is so beautiful. The cover and the internal artwork!!!! Absolutely gorgeous, a treat for the eyes, and the colour palette is exceptional because of the type of story this is and the tone of the book. Daniela Serra has been one of my favourite artists for a while and I could stare at the pages of this beautiful book all day long.
Now, onto the story. If you’re an adult that enjoys introspective, mysterious, gothic-but-light-on-the-horror, moving tales about isolation, friendship, and courage, this might be for you. If you’re a YA reader or an adult browsing for something to gift a teenager that enjoys ghosties, this is also perfect.
We follow Jasmine, who lives (or exists, might be a better word…or is it? That’s the mystery!) in a strange house that seems to meet all her needs. Fresh clothes, prepared food, clean rooms, it’s all there for her precisely when she needs it. She never sees a person catering to these needs, she just has an implicit understanding that it’s the house itself that cares for her. She sometimes lightly ponders on whether or not she’s a ghost, but she isn’t too concerned with the nature of her reality until she finally meets another girl, Cassie, who has been living alongside her, unknown, in this same house forever.
There’s a creepy, haunting atmosphere to this story but it also feels so wholesome, not overbearingly threatening, and…well…lovely. Considering that Tim has explored the total destruction of humanity and various types of apocalypse in so many of his books, or at the very least a personal disaster of sorts for the protagonist, this was surprisingly, refreshingly upbeat, all things considered.
It’s just lovely, and I wholeheartedly recommend it. If you’d like to check out the book, the author, or the artist, I’ve popped some links below for you:
Bleeeeat!
Happy Goat Horror 
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