Ghost Letters
by Stephen Alter

    GHOST LETTERS by Stephen Alter
    Category:  Paranormal
    Age Recommendation:  Grades 6+
    Release Date:  1/8/08
    Publisher:  Bloomsbury
    Reviewed by:  Allison Fraclose
    Rating:  5 Stars


    After being expelled from McCauley Prep School, Gil’s parents send him to live with his poet grandfather in a
    small, oceanside town in Massachusetts. While exploring the beach one afternoon, Gil finds a blue bottle bobbing
    on the ocean waves, and, on a whim, writes a note that reads, “Help! I’m stranded on a desert island. Save me!”
    He puts the note in the bottle, sends it back to the sea, and thinks nothing else of it.

    A hundred years earlier, a young calligrapher’s apprentice in Ajeebgarh, India, finds the bottle floating in the Magor
    River…with Gil’s message inside! He decides to send back a reply, and the two begin a strange correspondence.  

    As Gil’s grandfather teaches him about the history of their home and the ancestor who built it, Gil befriends a girl
    named Nargis. The two bond over the eerie appearances of a ghostly hand and letters that were never delivered to
    their original destinations. Meanwhile, war with the British threatens Ajeebgarh, and Sikander, the apprentice, is
    desperate to find a way to save his friend, who was kidnapped by British soldiers. Through the help of the
    mysterious hand, a roving ghost postman, and an English genie sealed in a letter for a hundred years, Gil must find a
    way to deliver the lost letters and stop the war.

    Readers who enjoyed Louis Sachar’s HOLES will find a similar format here, with the story hopping between two
    different time periods and clues scattered throughout. A great read with just the right amount of creepy chill to go
    with it.