This novel has often been compared to William Golding's "Lord of the Flies," but I find "Our Mother's House to be far better. This story of young children left to fend for themselves after their mother's death doesn't need a desert island for a setting: it is fascinating in its own right. Buy it!

I read this book as a teenager; and it has haunted me since. Not filled with the gore of much of today's graphic horror, this tale of a family's secret and decent into twisted madness based on childish rules and concepts of order has one of the most chilling plot bits I can remember- a child shunned to death. If you can find it, read it!

I could not think of a better way of helping one to come to grips with getting old. This is a very gentle work, with no sentimentalization of aging but with a lot of humanity and respect for those who are inching close up to death. (After reading it I asked my 22 year old daughter to read it and she completely agreed with my assessment and love the work, as well.)

Is it better to allow sleeping dogs their eternal rest? Oedipus couldn't do it, not while the city he ruled suffered. Neither can psychiatrist Hugh Welchman, no matter how many times he is warned, when he takes on a 19 year old student terrified to descend his dormitory's stone. Nor can the reader stop turning the pages of elegant prose, a psychological thriller in which twists and turns of plot --and genre-- verge on the Gothic.