Witch's Fire

Kirsty, recently confined to a wheelchair, and her sister become convinced that their old house had once been owned by a witch and that the witch wants her house back, as a snowstorm isolates them, testing their courage and strength.

Two years ago a car accident killed Kirsty's mother and older sister, and left Kirsty confined to a wheelchair. After recuperating in Florida with her grandmother, the 13-year-old is in Wisconsin, where her father has a new job--and a new family. His wife, Rita, a divorcee, seems pleasant enough, but her nine-year-old daughter, Pam, irritates Kirsty with her chirpy manner and boundless energy. Worse, Pam has ingratiated herself with Kirsty's father, who takes the younger girl's side during altercations. The house they've all moved into is reputedly haunted, and one stormy night, Kirsty and Pam share a terrifying experience that just may be attributed to forces stronger than both of them. However worthy its attentions to step-families and the many adjustments their members must make, Butler's ( My Sister's Keeper ) novel never quite ignites. The wordy narrative fails to clarify the supernatural plot elements, and while the climax is tense, there's not much excitement until then. More confusing than suspenseful. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Confined to a wheelchair since the accident that killed her mother and sister, Kirsty Hamilton, 13, has just moved to Wisconsin to live with her father, his new wife, Rita, and Rita's nine-year-old daughter, Pam. Bitter and angry, Kirsty resists Pam's overtures but can't reject her fear that their house is under the spell of its previous owner--Alma Potter, a 100-year- old nursing-home resident who's rumored to be a witch. Reflected in a living-room window, a fire is visible to Kirsty when there's none in the fireplace; she also sees a nonexistent door that's open to a scene from her former life; and a witch's face assumes the witch's persona after Kirsty sketches it. Meanwhile, Pam's personality begins to alter, and it's reported that Alma Potter's decline has reversed itself; Kirsty suspects that she's sapping Pam's life in order to reclaim her own. When the girls are left alone during a blizzard, the house unaccountably fills with smoke. Kirsty confronts the witch's power, dragging herself upstairs to rescue Pam and destroy the sketch, and thus the witch. Butler combines elements from her earlier novels--a disabled heroine (Light a Single Candle, 1962) and nail-biting suspense (Ghost Cat, 1984)--for a thriller that subtly blends realism with the occult, skillfully weaving in details that build the story to its satisfying conclusion. (Fiction. 10-14) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.