The Ghost of Thomas Kempe
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The Ghost of Thomas Kempe is a novel for children by Penelope Lively published in 1973. The novel won the Carnegie Medal in 1973.
The story concerns a young boy James Harrison and his family who move to a cottage in a small Oxfordshire village. They are beset by a series of small domestic disasters and the family assume that James is causing the problems. However James discovers that he is being haunted by the ghost of a 17th Century sorcerer and no one will believe him.
The prose of the novel is very enjoyable with a lot of humour. It is still a popular children's novel.
The story has some other themes about the life of an ex-inhabitant of the cottage in the 19th century and the history of surrounding countryside. An interest in history and local change is a running theme in the work of Penelope Lively, and this can be seen in many of her other books.
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