The Crying Child

by Barbara Michaels

Paperback, 1971

Status

Available

Call number

813.54

Collection

Publication

Mass market

Description

Joanne McMullen's fears for her sister's sanity have brought her to remote King's Island, Maine. Mary's grief over the loss of her child is threatening to send her over the edge-and her insistence that she has heard an eerie, childlike wailing in the woods fuels Joanne's anxiety. And now Mary's taken to disappearing at midnight in search of the source of the heartrending moans. But it's not just her sister's encroaching madness that is chilling Joanne's blood-it's her own. Because suddenly, impossibly, she also hears the crying child.

User reviews

LibraryThing member victorianrose869
March 22, 1999
The Crying Child
Barbara Michaels

A young woman goes to visit her sister and brother-in-law on their huge estate on an island off Main somewhere. The older sister has lost a child, and is obsessed by the haunting sounds of a child crying – sounds that come from somewhere in the dark
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woods behind the house. Soon, everyone hears it.

A genuine ghost story, and a tragic story of an unwanted child. More vintage, fabulous Barbara Michaels!!!
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LibraryThing member pussreboots
A genuine ghost story which made for an entertaining read. Often Michaels opts for a more logical conclusion leaving the supernatural events to be explained by a nefarious slight of hand by one of the characters. In this book the ending is as Gothic as the house in which the story takes place.
LibraryThing member Jean_Sexton
Wow! Just wow! What a terrific gothic! The story plays fair in that there are hints all along. Still, putting those hints together isn't easy. This book gave me chills. The thought of the crying child haunts me.
LibraryThing member Carol420
A young struggling artist visits her wealthy sister and brother-in-law. Jo's sister Mary just had a third miscarriage, and the loss of her baby is affecting her mentally - she's clinging to the idea of a child out in the woods, who is crying for her and begging for her help. Jo begins to wonder if
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Mary really is crazy -- but then she hears the crying too. Jo teams up with her brother in law Ran, and the handsome (but woman-wary) doctor Will Graham, to find out what the crying is. But when the ghostly apparition of a beautiful, sad woman appears, Jo begins to dig into the past of Ran's family, and discovers a web of lies, murder, and terror centering on a lost child.

Jo is an excellent heroine: smart, wry, brave, and loyal to her sister, who is a rather nebulous presence once it's discovered that, while unstable, she's not totally delusional. I thought Ran was something of a controlling fink, but he was very human in his flaws and strong points (loves his wife, wants a child, etc). I disliked Will initially, because of his rather hostile stance toward women, but began to warm to him as the novel progressed. A genuine ghost story which made for an entertaining read and my second favorite Barbara Michael's book,
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Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

1971

Physical description

273 p.; 22 cm
Page: 0.2607 seconds