Facts
Writer: Susan Hill
Year of publication: 1996
Pages: 247 (afterword included)
Publisher: Wolters-Noordhoff
Main characters

Edmund Hooper: A boy (not yet 11 years old), who lives at Warings together with his father Joseph Hooper. Later Helena Kingshaw and her son Charles Kingshaw also lived at Warings, then Edmund terrorizes Charles to get him away.
Charles Kingshaw: The only son of Helena Kingshaw, who is terribly terrorized by Edmund Hooper. Hooper is continually saying, he's stupid and Hooper laughed when he sees Charles is afraid of a big crow. But worse are the lies of Edmund. This finally lead to the suicide of Charles. He's is 11 years old and has red hair. Charles always had to live in somebody else's place, which he doesn't like.
Mr Joseph Hooper: He's a 51-year-old widower, who has the difficulty to handle child Edmund. He first knew he had failed as a father. Joseph used to be an ambitious banker. After he heard a phone call of Helena (who lived in his house), in which she says: "I have not quite up make my mind about the future", he decided to marry quite soon with her.
Mrs Helena Kingshaw: She's a widow of 37 years old, she has the 11 years old boy Charles. She once says: "Their friendship will be cemented by playing the games!", but almost all the time Charles and Edmund are big enemies to each other. When Charles clearly says Edmund is not his friend, Helena thinks it's the way these boys should behave. She never realizes Edmund terrorizes Charles.
Genre

This is a novel of character, in which quite a lot of thriller-like elements are used.
Story-outline

Joseph, Edmund (an 11 years old boy) and grandfather Hooper live at Warings, an ugly house built of dark red brick. At Warings there's the Red Room, where Grandfather had a lot of moths, he was famous for them. Grandfather died right in the beginning of this novel. Joseph’s wife, Ellen Hooper died 6 years ago. Joseph tries to find an "informal" housekeeper and he finds Mrs Helena Kingshaw. The first time she comes, she also brings her only son Charles (he's almost 11 years old), she doesn't have a husband.
Edmund doesn't like to have a new friend, therefore he showed Charles the message:...








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