But we got to see their relationship through that which was wonderful to see. There’s a fantastic secondary plot around the brothers, that I won’t go into because of spoilers. It was heart breaking seeing her watching Eddie and his brother while not being able to join them. She’s a kid trying to live her life, and having to learn and adapt to the house around her. We were in Elise’s head, seeing her thought process and emotions as she goes about her day. The explorations of this story was wonderfully done. Someone he hears in the walls and who borrows his books. Meanwhile, Eddie is aware that there’s someone else there. She hides away in the walls and the attic, living of food she takes from the kitchen when the family are out. Although another family now live there, she moves in to all the hidden places she explored when she lived there. When Elise’s parents passed away in an accident, she ran away from foster care to the last place she truly felt at home. It’s worth shouting that out, because it can definitely impact your enjoyment of a book if you go in with very different expectations. I’ve seen it pitched and blurbed as a Gothic tale, but that’s not what it is at all.

To start off with, I just want to highlight that this book does suffer a little bit from it’s promotion. But when his older brother senses her, too, they are faced with a question: how do they get rid of someone they aren’t sure even exists?Īnd, if they cast her out, what other threats might they invite in? He must no longer believe in the girl he sometimes sees from the corner of his eye. And home is where you stay, no matter what.Įddie calls the same house his home. She knows which parts can take her in, hide her away. She knows where the gaps are in the walls. Signs of their presence remain in a house.Įventually, every hidden thing is found.’Įlise knows every inch of the house. Not everyone can do what they can.īut soon enough, they can’t help themselves. Stretching themselves until they’re as thin as air. Those who live in the walls must adjust, must twist themselves around in their home, I received an early copy of this for review from the publisher (Fourth Estate) via NetGalley.

Girl in the Walls by A.J. Gnuse