The Doll in the Garden
By Mary Downing Hahn
When Ashley discovers a turn-of-the-century doll it is just the first of several puzzling events that lead her through the hedge and into a twilight past where she meets Louise, an ailing child whose beloved doll has mysteriously disappeared. Average customer review: 
Editorial Review: A young girl helps her cantankerous elderly landlord to resolve a childhood act that caused the woman lifelong guilt. Ashley follows a white cat back in time and meets Louisa, a girl who is dying and who longs for her beloved doll–a doll that Ashley and her friend Kristi have found buried in Miss Cooper’s garden. In the end Ashley, Kristi, and Miss Cooper visit Louisa; the woman is able to make am mends with her childhood friend, and Ashley begins to accept her father’s death. Hahn’s portrayal of crotchety Miss Cooper is expertly drawn, giving vivid insight into why she acts and lives as she does. Ashley, her widowed mother, and Kristi are also fully realized characters. When Hahn sticks to her story, it moves along at a steady, scary clip. However, when she lapses into lengthy descriptions of flowers, birds, and landscape, she slows the pace of the story rather than creates the intended atmosphere. Ashley’s first-person narrative often gets bogged down in a flowery adult voice, particularly in the descriptions: “As still as the cherub behind me, I watched the leaves sway in the breeze. Sunlight and shadow mottled the ground, and the weeds whispered to themselves, lulling me like distant voices of children at play.” Still, it’s an imaginative ghost story, fairly predictable, but with a completely satisfying ending. –Trev Jones, “School Library Journal”
Customer Reviews
A Doll In the Garden 
Mary Downing Hahn is an excellent writer! All of her stories are a fun, thrilling, mysterious adventure! I would recommend any of books to readers of all ages. She hooks you from page one and doesn’t let go until the final word!
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Ms Hahn simply as a gift for writing chilling and yet so romantic spooky stories. As a child this book entranced me. I checked it out multiple times and would let the detailed and rich story wash over me. A great plot, complex characters, and vivid description make this a fantastic mystery.
Favorite children’s book from when I was a child
When I was a kid in middle school this is the one book I couldn’t put down and now I have it and will never have to put it down. I am very happy with the purchase because I love this book.
Doll in the Garden is suitable for younger readers. You will find the book listed in the House of Shadows store; just click on the store tab at the top of the page and search “Ghost Stories”
