The Bewitching of Alison Allbright

by Alan Davidson

Book Overview

This is the tale of a girl who is intensely jealous of all the good times her classmates have but who cannot share them because her parents are not very well off. After a series of bizarre events, she... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670820156
• ISBN13: 9780670820153
• Release Date: May 1989
• Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

A book that stayed with me for years

Others have described the premise. I can only say this book was absolutely delicious when I first read it as a child and it haunted me for years. I couldnt remember the author's name or title and it took me years to haunt it down.When I finally remembered, found it, and bought it, it was surprising to find that the book was really just as good as I had remembered. My daughter and I read it together and loved it, again. So much bad work is printed nowadays in the name of children's literature, that it's hard to believe that books of this calibre existed so long ago.

A hard lesson

Life isnt easy for Alison Allbright. Living on her cobbled street with her poor parents, and her overbearing brother is bad enough, but at school, her classmates barely know she is alive. One day, a mysterious stranger stares Alison down from a train window as she stands on the embankment. The mysterious stranger, Mrs Considine, enters Alisons life and enchants her, then as the title suggest bewitches her. Showering her with the life that she never had, gifts, popularity and the biggest house by the lake, Alison turns her back unwittingly on the life that she knew and desperately craved to get away from. But things start to unhinge, and Alison learns some dark truths both about herself and Mrs Considine, but is it too late???Alan Davidson creates an enchanting world which draws you in deeper and deeper with every word. Every paragraph creates the images in your mind perfectly, and every character is entirely believable, leaving you not only routing for the main character but all the people around her too.

A well-drawn portrait of shyness

The Plot: This book is about a shy, bitter, and generally unhappy girl named Alison Allbright. All her classmates are rich, popular, and sophisticated people who snub and tease her. She hates her house, her family, her classmates, and herself. One day, a wealthy and mysterious woman befriends Alison, bestows gifts on her, takes her on trips, and gives her the confidence to become the person she's always dreamed of being. But there's a catch...Okay, so my plot description leaves a little to be desired. While the premise is a little far-fetched, Mr. Davidson paints an absolutely accurate picture of the paranoia shy people live with. Stricken with shyness myself, I could absolutely (and frighteningly) identify with Alison. It struck a nerve, you might say, and so might not be as good as I think.