" Long Lankin is classified as a YA novel. I don't know why, unless it is because the protagonist is an adolescent. The story, although excellent, will be too demanding for many YA readers. Long Lankin is written in the style of a classic folk tale. It has all of the best folk tale elements - a creepy setting, a long ago witch trial gone wrong, a curse, ghosts wandering the cemetery, an evil presence stalking the characters, and a harsh, cold elderly relative hiding a long held family secret. The novel's very slow pace works to build the tension and spookiness, but will probably be too slow for many YA readers. Telling the story from multiple points of view builds suspense as readers learn secrets and predict events before the characters do, but YA readers may be too impatient to pick up on the insight the multiple points of view offer. Long Lankin is set in the years following WWII on a dilapidated estate in the middle of a gloomy marsh away from any cities or city amenities. Cora and her sister Mimi are sent there to live with their reclusive great aunt after their mother is taken away to a hospital, and their father is not able to care them. Keenly observant Cora immediately picks up on the unspoken facts that her father is not happy about this plan, Great Aunt Ida not only does not want them, she seems terrified and furious to have them, and most of the town locals are concerned about their well-being. Cora also figures out quickly that Ida's explanations for why the house is kept locked up like a vault and why the girls are not allowed to explore the estate, are lies. With the help of neighbor and new friend Roger, Cora sets out to solve the mysteries of her mother's family and the downfall of the family's Guerdon Hall estate. Readers who make it to the last 1/3rd of the novel will be rewarded with a frightening, nail biting crisis and climax. "
— Beverly, 1/27/2014