The Hollow Pines Plantation in Georgetown, South Carolina, may appear deserted, but to one 12-year-old boy, now a ghost, it’s home. He doesn’t remember how long he’s been there or the trauma that bound him to the place. He just knows that he can’t escape, and nor can the other souls who were stuck there long before him, part of the plantation’s legacy of slavery. When three living children (one of whom is a trans girl) visit, hoping to solve a mystery tied to the site, he sees the possibility of finally escaping the sad and scary locale and its legacy of pain and sorrow. There’s also another queer character, but I will not spoil the story by saying more.
Author Greg Howard deals compassionately with tough issues like racism, homophobia, and bias, both individual and systemic, but manages to avoid preachiness and weave lessons from both history and today into a compelling, atmospheric, and original tale. This is a ghost story, and contains some scary moments, but stays appropriate for middle grade readers—there’s spookiness but not horror (though there is threatened violence). While the story deals with intense issues, the ending offers an uplift of hope.
I should offer one content warning, but it’s also a major spoiler, so I’ll write it in white-on-white below. If you want to know, click and drag: A major character in the book dies by suicide.
