For as long as she can remember, sixteen-year-old Ellen Poe Reynolds’ family has claimed to be long-lost descendants of Edgar Allan Poe. But when she moves in with her aunt in a Poe-themed B&B, the nightmares that have always haunted her begin bleeding into Ellen’s waking hours. When she stumbles upon a journal in the house, none other than Edgar Allan Poe himself begins visiting her. Has the journal somehow released his ghost? And what does he want with Ellen? Through secret messages in his writings, she learns that the two share the same psychic ability to interact with spirits, which is what ultimately drove him mad
I’m a sucker for a mystery involving a historical figure. Especially if that historical figure is Edgar Allan Poe. He was a fascinating writer with a tragic history. You’ll learn everything you could want to learn about Edgar Allan Poe from this book. It felt like a biography/literary analysis of the man.
To keep this from turning into a full literature report, here are a few highlights on the man:
- Born January 19, 1809. Died October 7, 1849
- After his rich foster father disowned him in his early twenties, he lived in poverty for the rest of his life.
- He was 27 years old when he married his 13-year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm
- He had many girlfriends and fiancés
- He had a drinking problem and took drugs
- He invented the modern detective story
- He was obsessed with cryptography. He wrote poems in code and published stories about codes
- His poems and stories became famous after his death.
I like the fact that even though the life and stories of Edgar Allan Poe have been drilled into Ellen’s head since childhood, she’s not a fan of poetry. Her favorite classes are math and computer science. I can relate to this. English class is hard. It’s a lot of dissecting what the author is trying to say, themes, imagery, etc.
An Edgar Allan Poe-themed B&B could be a big hit with the spooky tourism crowd if designed and advertised correctly. That is not the case for Ellen’s aunt.
I loved the Ghost of Edgar Allan Poe, or, as he preferred to be called, Eddy. He was more annoying than scary and not very helpful. He speaks in poetic, cryptic riddles, which feels authentic to how he probably spoke when he was alive.
There’s not much else I can say without giving away too much of the overall mystery. I will say that this is the first book in a series with a central, long-term mystery that spans multiple books.
Be sure to read the Author’s Note to learn what Diana Peterfreund made up for the story.
As a bonus, here are a few YouTube videos about Edgar Allan Poe I’d like to share: