Publishers Weekly
Something's wrong with Cora and Mimi's mother, so their father sends them to live with their Aunt Ida, and she is none too happy when they arrive. Guerdon Hall, the sisters' temporary home, is immense, dark, and terrifying, both to them and to Aunt Ida. First published in the U.K., Barraclough's debut, which is based on a centuries-old British ballad, is a ghost story through and through, chock-full of mysterious apparitions, strange voices, cryptic warnings, and townsfolk who chorus beware, all of which frighten Cora and her new friend, a local boy named Roger, and compel them to uncover the mystery hovering over Guerdon Hall. Told in alternating first-person narratives belonging to Cora, Roger, and Aunt Ida, Barraclough's prose is often poetic; while beautiful, it also makes this strange story dense and initially difficult to access. Readers will likely get a sense of where the story is headed early on, but uncovering the complicated, sad history of Ida's life and the ways in which Cora and Mimi have become tangled in its legacy will compel them to its finish. Ages 12–up. (July)
From the Publisher
Like all the best scary stories, this will haunt readers well after the tale has been told, leaving teens who have long thought themselves too old for the bogeyman double-checking the locks on their doors.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (starred review)
This atmospheric, pulse-pounding debut makes the most of its rural, post–World War II setting, a time and place where folklore uneasily informs reality. Barraclough controls her narrative with authority, shifting voices and tenses to provide both perspective and the occasional welcome respite from tension. . .A good, old-fashioned literary horror tale for sophisticated readers.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
This debut horror story set in Britain during the late 1940s starts slowly but weaves a chilling spell that will immerse readers in this world and hold them through to the breathless conclusion. . . .A spine-tingling selection.
—School Library Journal
This is a story to get lost in: the gloomy, rain-soaked atmosphere recalls Wilkie Collins’ THE WOMAN IN WHITE... Those who appreciate old-fashioned chillers will be rewarded by incident after unsettling incident: witchcraft, exorcisms, fire, plagues, and a blood-drinking murderer who walks on all fours.
—Booklist
This title is a winner for young horror aficionados.
—VOYA
Barraclough evokes setting and atmosphere with earthy richness, detailing smells, sounds, blossoms, family life, and decaying architecture with the same attention she gives her portrait of postwar British village culture. . .the book gives readers shivers enough as Long Lankin, pungent and fetid, emerges to test the heroism of the three protagonists.
—The Horn Book
The novel maintains a spooky atmosphere and some of the details could creep out the most adult of us.
—Library Media Connection
Genuinely suspenseful and eerie, "Long Lankin" is a stunning debut by an author with a wonderful feel for things that go bump in the night, and the courage it takes to shine a light on them.
—Virginian-Pilot
Long Lankin is an intense journey that is carefully paced and wonderfully dark.
—Shelf Awareness for Readers
LONG LANKIN is deliciously creepy and infinitely charming.
—TeenReads.com
School Library Journal - Audio
Gr 7 Up—A centuries-old curse has claimed the lives of young children in the English village of Byers Guerdon. When 12-year-old Cora and her little sister, Mimi, forced by family circumstances on their Auntie Ida, show up at Guerdon Hall, the ancient curse revives. The text's colloquial, mid-20th century British English will be jarring to American listeners. While the horror story, set in the late 1940s in Britain, is excellent, it is so slowly paced that there is almost no action until well into the fourth CD. From that point, tedium (the reading of old accounts of the origin of the curse) alternates with gruesome detail before delightfully scary action takes over. Listeners who have the patience to slog through the first half of the tale will be rewarded. Ann Flosnik is somewhat uneven in her voicing of the children. A local boy named Roger, who befriends Cora and, with his brother Pete, helps unravel the mystery, remarks of her East-End accent—dropping her "aitches—but in the sequence, Cora repeatedly voices "home," "hall," etc. The slight differences in accent will not be apparent to most listeners. Flosnik is far better at the upper-crust voice of Auntie Ida. Musical interludes are nicely creepy.–Nina Sachs, Walker Memorial Library, Westbrook, ME
FEBRUARY 2013 - AudioFile
Narrator Anne Flosnik does not disappoint in this dark debut novel that might best be enjoyed with the lights on and the windows locked. When Cora and her little sister, Mimi, are sent to live with their eccentric Auntie Ida, they accidentally awaken an ancient evil that has haunted her rural town for generations. Flosnik is as adept at portraying the innocent squeals of 4-year-old Mimi as she is at the scratchy, hardened voice of Auntie Ida. Narrating in alternating voices, Flosnik's subtle adjustments to both accent and tone allow the listener to know exactly who is speaking. Her breathless pace leads to a chilling conclusion that's as loud and as horrifying as Long Lankin himself. M.D. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
A thoroughly terrifying, centuries-old monster stalks two children sent from London to stay with their great-aunt in the country. Cora and little sister Mimi's Auntie Ida could hardly be less welcoming when they show up at her door, sent by their father while their Mum, always prone to "funny moods," is away--again. They must keep the windows and doors locked, even though the crumbling old house is steaming in the summer heat. They mustn't explore in the house, or go down to the marshes, or--especially--go down to the old church. Roger and his brother Pete, local boys, are also forbidden to go there, but when the four children fall in together, down to the church they go--and wake up Long Lankin. He likes them young. This atmospheric, pulse-pounding debut makes the most of its rural, post–World War II setting, a time and place where folklore uneasily informs reality. Barraclough controls her narrative with authority, shifting voices and tenses to provide both perspective and the occasional welcome respite from tension. The actual threat remains mostly unknown for almost the first half of the book, evident mostly in the long scratches by the door, the fetid stench of the church, the secretiveness of the villagers and, overwhelmingly, Auntie Ida's frank terror. If some of the historical exposition comes very conveniently, readers won't care--they will be too busy flipping the pages as Long Lankin closes in. A good, old-fashioned literary horror tale for sophisticated readers. (Historical fantasy. 10-14)
