Browsing the thrift shop recently in search of past YA SFFH I came upon a book by Mary Downing Hahn with a creepy doll on the cover and immediately grabbed it. It looked to be a promising read for spooky season and potentially for Into the Wardrobe here at the Skiffy & Fanty blog.
A few moments later I found another novel by Hahn, and then another. And yet another. Someone apparently got rid of their collection of a prolific author – a name I wasn’t familiar with. By the time I got through the kids section of the store, I had a stack of around a dozen novels by Hahn. I figured that either she is really great, or one of those popular authors that writes total garbage that somehow appeals to the masses.
A quick look on my Goodreads showed me that a friend whose tastes and opinions seem to very closely match mine on gothic, dark fantasy, and horror revealed that she generally found Hahn’s work to be quality, so I was easily sold that this pile I had amassed would be worth checking out.
And so we begin here with the earliest Hahn novel that I came upon, 1986’s Wait Till Helen Comes. Though Hahn’s fifth published novel, this is the one that seems to be her award-winning, ‘breakthrough’ success. In 2016 a Canadian movie adaptation was released, the first (and so far only) film produced from Hahn’s prolific stories. I’d now like to watch this movie version; considering the strengths and continued relevancy of Wait Till Helen Comes, I suspect that other Hahn novels should be pursued for adaptation in the future.
Twelve-year-old Molly’s mother Jean has remarried Dave, a man whose former wife died in an accidental fire two years prior, a house conflagration that left his then three-year-old daughter Heather alive, but traumatized. Along with Molly’s ten-year-old brother Michael, Jean’s family thus embarks on life with step-father Dave and now five-year-old step-sister Heather. Together, the mixed family struggles to find a way to become a unified, loving whole in a new home.
However, Heather appears possessive of her father and antagonistic to her mother-in-law and step-siblings, despite their attempts of being welcoming and kind. More problematic, Heather begins making up stories about Molly and Michael excluding or mistreating her in efforts to gain sympathy from her father and drive a wedge between the parents. Trying to adapt and urged by their mother to give Heather some leeway and empathy, Molly and Michael nevertheless notice Heather getting worse, more vindictive.
The children have discovered an old graveyard on their property, compellingly macabre, melancholy, yet beautiful and peaceful. They learn of a local legend surrounding the graveyard: the ghost of a young girl who has lured other young girls to a watery grave in the adjacent pond. But as the scientific and skeptical Michael argues, surely these are just stories built around mundane, albeit terrible, accidents. Molly is less sure. Molly becomes concerned that Heather has begun communicating with the ghost of Helen, a young girl whose gravestone reveals an identical personal monogram as Heather’s. Heather begins openly threatening her step-siblings with her newfound friend Helen, and soon Molly even begins casting glimpses of a shadowy figure speaking to Heather, luring the vulnerable five-year old into her control. As Molly tries to save the unity of their new family, she realizes that Heather’s mortal life might even be in danger from the influence of this malevolent entity.
I would have loved Wait Till Helen Comes if I had known about it in 1986, or soon thereafter. It’s a dark-fantasy/supernatural-horror middle grade novel that would’ve delighted young me with its spookiness and darkness, but also the strong central story and its emotional resonance. While not having that gothic, historical flair of a John Bellairs novel, Hahn’s work is the closest I’ve yet discovered to doing supernatural so very well. Even as an adult, it seems just as enjoyable and wonderful. I imagine I pick up and understand the heavy psychological themes surrounding death, loss, and trauma now more than I would have when younger. Yet, even without fully understanding elements of the novel intellectually, the central emotions and ideas of it all are realized for readers.
The dark themes of the novel have apparently led to calls for Wait Till Helen Comes to be removed from some school libraries. Any book called to be banned is a book worth reading. Hahn handles the complex themes remarkably well, and responsibly. With the story written from Molly’s point-of-view, the reader likewise becomes somewhat biased against other characters. However, the perspectives of the other family members (and even Helen’s) become revealed to Molly, and therefore the reader, as the story reaches its exciting conclusion. And things then do end with healing and profound hope.
The one character who doesn’t come around to any profound change of perspective would probably be Molly’s brother Michael. Michael remains the skeptic and someone more emotionally aloof from emotional connection to the others. I appreciate Hahn’s inclusion of a character like this, a nerd who would rather go out exploring and collecting insects than bond over feelings and irrational familial strife. On the other hand, more signs of Michael’s growth or opening up would’ve been nice.
I haven’t looked into whether Hahn has ever written any sequels or series within her output, but I feel as though Molly, Michael, and Heather could be revisited years later to show new encounters and growth from any one of them, from a non-Molly point of view.
Regardless, I now look forward to continuing the dive into the other books in my Hahn stack haul. I won’t be writing about them all here for Into the Wardrobe, but there may be some to come if they have a big impact. In the meantime, comment, email us, or let us know on our Discord if you’ve read Hahn, and if there’s a particular beloved work of hers for you.
