The Ghosts of Kerfol

by Deborah Noyes

Book Overview

In an enthralling work of Gothic suspense, an Edith Wharton story inspires five connected tales set in the same haunted manor over the centuries.

In her classic ghost story "Kerfol," Edith Wharton tells the tale of Anne de Barrigan, a young Frenchwoman convicted of murdering her husband, the jealous Yves de Cornault. The elderly lord was found dead on the stairs, apparently savaged by a pack of dogs, though there were no dogs -- no live...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0763648256
• ISBN13: 9780763648251
• Release Date: May 2010
• Publisher: Candlewick Press (MA)
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.4" x 8.6"
• Age Range: 14 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 9 and higher

Customer Reviews

Gorgeous!

I absolutely loved this book. The writing was brilliant! I would definitely recommend it to anyone lusting after a lost love, or just looking for a great ghost story. The best book I've read in a long time!

It captured my imagination enough to frighten me a little while I was reading it, but continued to h

THE GHOSTS OF KERFOL presents five new tales based on a ghost story by Edith Wharton. The book begins with a narration of the original events as told by a household maid. The house is kept under the absolute control of its master, Yves de Cornault. While he carefully maintains the appearance of generosity and goodwill with his neighbors, the household is run with severity, and none suffers more than his new wife Anne. Isolated in the country manor with no company, her every move is monitored by her husband and the household staff. Noticing her loneliness, and eager to display his wealth, Yves brings Anne a little dog. Anne dotes on the pooch and even gives it some of her jewels to wear as its collar. "You look like my great-grandmother, Juliane de Cornault, lying in the chapel with her feet on a little dog," her husband says. "Well, when I am dead you must put me beside her, carved in marble with my dog at my feet," she responds. "Oho --- we'll wait and see!" he says, reminding her that the dog is the emblem of fidelity. "And do you doubt my right to lie with mine at my feet?" she asks. "When I am in doubt, I find out," he says. "I am an old man...and people say I make you lead a lonely life. But I swear you shall have your monument if you earn it." "And I swear to be faithful," she says, "if only for the sake of having my little dog at my feet." Then one day, while her husband is away on one of his long trips, one of the neighboring nobles --- Herve de Lanrivain --- visits to tell her he is going abroad on a perilous mission. He asks for a token to take with him, so she gives him her little dog's jeweled collar. When her husband returns, he notices that the collar is gone. Afraid to tell him about her visitor, she says that she lost the collar and even has the maids search for it in the meadow. That evening she discovers her little dog dead on her pillow. It had been strangled with the jeweled collar that her husband had somehow retrieved. Thereafter, any dog she attempts to keep, even those belonging to servants or neighbors to which she might give attention in passing, is strangled and left in her bed. Growing increasingly desperate and fearing for her life, she receives a note from Herve de Lanrivain telling her he will present himself at her home that evening. Having no way to warn him about her husband, she attempts to sneak out of the house to meet him. This is when she hears her husband coming after her, cursing, followed by "a terrible scream and a fall," then dogs snarling and panting, "like the noise of a pack when the wolf is thrown to them --- gulping and lapping." Anne is found in a blood-soaked nightgown, there are bloody handprints on the wall, and her husband is dead and savaged in a pool of his own blood. The court determines she is mad; she is locked in a tower at Kerfol for the remainder of her days, "a harmless madwoman." In Edith Wharton's original, from which the previous excerpts have been taken, the story i

Excellent Book

The Ghosts of Kerfol contains five short stories set in different eras all based on ghostly encounters at Kerfol. It is an excellent book based on Edith Warton's classic ghost story Kerfol. This book is perfect for anyone who enjoys things that go bump in the night.

Courtesy of Teens Read Too

Anne de Barrigan is a young woman in France who is married to the strong, jealous Yves de Cornault and lives at the grand Kerfol estate. When Yves is mysteriously murdered, Anne is questioned. However, the marks on Yves show that he had to have been murdered by dogs, but there are no dogs at Kerfol. Kerfol seems to be haunted through many generations, as each chapter goes to a different time period in history, ending at the present time. Deborah Noyes writes an interesting book based off of the ghost story by Edith Wharton. Noyes creates characters in each time era that tells a little more of a great story. The weird happenings at Kerfol are sure to give chills to any reader. Reviewed by: Steph