The Ghost of Thomas Kempe

The Ghost of Thomas Kempe by Penelope Lively was a formative book for me (what were the others? The Little White Horse, Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, The Long Winter, The Chimneys of Green Knowe, The Summer of the Great Secret, Ballet Shoes, Winter Holiday, The Warden's Niece, Tom's Midnight Garden).

I must have read this book dozens of times. The corners of my copy are all nibbled, and James, at ten, was older than me when I first read it. I'm surprised at how short it is -- just over 150 pages -- because it packed in a lot of ideas that intrigued me. Ghosts, history, people 'having layers -- like onions.' Perhaps this is where my fascination with ghosts began? As an adult, I notice how imaginative James is, always dipping into a private, internal narrative, embarking on experiments, sharing adventures with an imaginary friend (this might have been my favourite element as a child). Bert Ellison, builder and exorcist, is a wonderful character, equally matter-of-fact about shelving and the best methods for laying poltergeists to rest.

Thomas Kempe's reign of terror is quite brief, but it escalates rapidly, from breaking crockery through graffiti to arson in a few chapters. And the final chapter, where the sorcerer's ghost admits bewilderment about the modern world and Bert and James succeed in helping him on his way, is very moving.

The Ghost of Thomas Kempe is a tight, poignant and beautifully written story. I hope modern children are still reading it, it seems to be still in print. It's fifty years old and James himself would be sixty, one of those onion-layered adults he muses about as he walks home in the summer dusk, just as a wide-eyed eight year old reader is still locked away inside me.