A ghost story set in the 1920s features Ophelia, a young African American girl who moves with her mother to Pittsburgh to live with relatives after her father dies. Ophie accompanies her mom to her new job as a housekeeper for a Mrs. Caruthers, a wealthy white woman, and her adult son. Soon Ophie realizes the house is also occupied by ghosts—or haints, as her Aunt Rose calls them. Ophie learns from her aunt that she has inherited the ability to see and communicate with these otherworldly beings, each of who is stuck in a different time period but co-exists on Ophie’s plane. Ophie helps take care of cruel Mrs. Caruthers, who is casual with her racist remarks, and although Ophie is becoming increasingly comfortable with the haints, she doesn’t immediately realize that a young woman who comes to her aid during an early confrontation with Mrs. Caruthers is a ghost as well. Clara used to work in the household but “disappeared,” and people are unwilling to talk about her. Ophie learns from her aunt that there are ways she can help ghosts move beyond the limbo of their trapped existence in the world of the living and onto the next plane, but she also ignores some of Aunt Rose’s advice about how to be careful with ghosts; ultimately she finds herself in a dangerous situation. This original story blends Black history, mystery, ghosts, and Southern Black traditions to make a compelling read. (Ages 8-12)

Winner of the 2001 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction

The New York Times bestselling author of Dread Nation makes her middle grade debut with a sweeping tale of the ghosts of our past that won’t stay buried, starring an unforgettable girl named Ophie.

Ophelia Harrison used to live in a small house in the Georgia countryside. But that was before the night in November 1922, and the cruel act that took her home and her father from her. Which was the same night that Ophie learned she can see ghosts.

Now Ophie and her mother are living in Pittsburgh with relatives they barely know. In the hopes of earning enough money to get their own place, Mama has gotten Ophie a job as a maid in the same old manor house where she works.

Daffodil Manor, like the wealthy Caruthers family who owns it, is haunted by memories and prejudices of the past—and, as Ophie discovers, ghosts as well. Ghosts who have their own loves and hatreds and desires, ghosts who have wronged others and ghosts who have themselves been wronged. And as Ophie forms a friendship with one spirit whose life ended suddenly and unjustly, she wonders if she might be able to help—even as she comes to realize that Daffodil Manor may hold more secrets than she bargained for.