About the Author:
John Anthony Bellairs (1938 1991) is an award-winning American author, perhaps best known for his fantasy novel The Face in the Frost. He is also the author of many gothic mystery novels for children and young adults, including The House with a Clock in its Walls (which received both the New York Times Outstanding Book of Award and the American Library Association Children's Books of International Interest Award), The Lamp from the Warlock’s Tomb (which won the Edgar Allen Poe Award), and The Specter from the Magician’s Museum (which won the New York Public Library "Best Books for the Teen Age" Award.
From Publishers Weekly:
Lewis Barnavelt, the plump worrywart and Sherlock Holmes aficionado last seen in The Letter, the Witch and the Ring , is making a grand tour of Europe with crotchety Uncle Jonathan. The trip culminates with a surprise visit to their "umpteenth cousin, who-knows-how-many times removed," Pelham Barnavelt, who resides in genteel post-WW II poverty in the family seat, Barnavelt Manor. Together with his new-found English friend, Bertie (the blind son of Cousin Pelham's housekeeper), Lewis explores the overgrown maze on the manor's grounds. When they discover an ancient map--hidden, in classic Bellairs style, in the bindings of a crumbling book--the boys wend their way to the secret center of the maze, where a powerful evil force has long been imprisoned. Overweight, bookish and naturally timid, Lewis is nevertheless capable of true bravery; his endearing character, along with the novel's underlying current of melancholy, makes this much more than run-of-the-mill supernatural entertainment. Chock-full of deliciously spooky details and narrated in a voice that is as cozy as it is ornery, this tale is utterly spellbinding. Although Strickland (who also completed The Ghost in the Mirror ) serves him well, the late Bellairs will be greatly missed. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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