E11even Terrible Months by R L Royle

Synopsis: Eleven Terrible Months explores what really happens in a haunted house and how it affects the people living there. This book is terrifyingly realistic and you’ll laugh and cry as you come to know the Walkingtons, the family subjected to the haunting. The Walkingtons – Sue, Roy and their three teenage children – were just like any other working-class Yorkshire family until January 1998, when they moved into their new home; a 3-bedroomed council flat in Beeston, West Yorkshire. What followed was a hellish year that almost ripped the humorous, tight-knit family apart. They eventually fled in November 1998, with their lives and nerves in tatters. What exactly happened to the Walkingtons during their time at 289 Millshaw Grove? In their own words, three of the five members of the Walkington family detail their lives at the time, their separate and shared unexplainable experiences, and the emotions, opinions and consequences thrown up from their eleven terrible months back in 1998. With frights so real they’ll give you nightmares, lashings of laugh-out-loud humour, and interesting explorations of family dynamics; Eleven Terrible Months is a fiction novel that you will never forget. (Taken from Waterstones site)

Review: This is a story which relates the events within a haunted flat and also the dynamics of an ordinary family. Although it was very creepy in places, the real interest however, turned out to be the story of the family itself. I completely related to the mother’s story and found the story of the teenage son, Chris, thought provoking, while funny and sad at the same time. This was mainly because it highlighted the tenuous nature of family relationships and how communication isn’t always as effective as it could be, consequently Chris was misunderstood at times. I admire R L Royle’s ability to understand the fragile nature of such relationships especially as she is able to relate the story from so many different viewpoints. It is those differing viewpoints which make the story so good – showing how the same events can affect the characters so differently. I found Sal’s story to be the creepiest and a couple of incidents set me thinking about things that I knew of that had happened. Coincidently something fell in the room next to me while reading this part – needless to say, I had to sleep with the light on afterwards! A wonderful read!

LibraryThing rating: *****

Other books read by this writer: None

Reviewed by JudyB