The Great Ghost Rescue

When your father is the legless ghost of a fierce Scottish soldier and your mother is a malodorous hag, you would surely be the most horrible specter to haunt a ruin. But sadly, the only thing horrible about Humphrey the Horrible is his name. His ectoplasm is peachy-pink and his eye sockets twinkle. Still, his parents love him, and despite his attractive appearance, Humphrey has a great destiny, involving all the ghosts of Britain.

With abbeys being modernized and ruins being turned into hotels, there are few miserable places left for a specter to call home. When Humphrey's family is driven out of their old castle, they set out to find a new one. Their search becomes a crusade when they meet up with other homeless ghosts and a politically active schoolboy, who takes their cause all the way to Number 10 Downing Street. But the Prime Minister's solution throws the ghosts into the care of an evil landlord, and it will be up to one small, peachy-pink spook to save their ectoplasm.

Good-natured and ghastly, this ghost story will delight the many fans of Eva Ibbotson's funny fantasies.

See interior art by Kevin Hawkes.