A Coming Evil by: Vivian Vande Velde

A Coming Evil by Vivian Vande Velde, is a novel about a young girl named Lisette Beaucaire who was sent by her parents from Paris to stay with her Aunt Josephine out in the country. Her mother told her it would be safer if she stayed with her aunt while this is going on. When she gets to her aunts house she finds out she'll have to be putting up with her annoying cousin, Cecile. Her Aunt Josephine has taken in five orphan children who happen to be Jews and Gypsies. If she hadn't done this they would be sent to German camps. There is a secret room in Aunt Josephine's house where they hide if they get the message that a German soldier is on their way. Lisette is so anxious to get out of the house that she took a walk and finds a hill close to the house. Cicile always tell her that the hill is haunted but she doesn't believe her. When Lisette gets lost in the wooded hill, a young ghost named Gerard, from a far distant time, help find her way back. Lisette becomes really close to young Gerard and tries to unravel the mystery of his ever more solid presence. Meanwhile, in town, two German officers are starting to get suspicious of Aunt Josephine's large amount of food she has been buying, and a neighbor, Maurice, may have found out about the orphaned children.
This book was interesting to me because it was a good, fiction book about ghosts. When I first picked up this book I wasn't expecting it to actually be a good book, but it was. A Coming Evil had a couple flaws, not much though. I felt as if the book would never end. That something was always about to happen next. It was drug out a little but still kept me interested in what was happening throughout the novel. If I were to suggest this book to anyone I definitely would, especially to people who enjoy good thriller novels with a good storyline.
A Coming Evil was not based on a true story, but the author made it seem like it had actually happened, or at least could. Poeple of all ages would enjoy this book. Because of the time period, older people would enjoy it, and because of the actually story involving young children, young teens or even adults would enjoy it, too. I think this novel fit great with my topic and was a fantastic book overall.

Vande Velde, Vivian. A Coming Evil, 9, September 2007.