A Ghost in the Castle

Laurence Steven is a professor of English at Laurentian University and
the author of Dissociation and Wholeness in Patrick White’s Fiction.

Bernard Oberdieck’s soft, pastel full-page illustrations provide the
appropriate fairy-tale atmosphere in this lavishly produced book; there
is lots of activity in this world, and Oberdieck shows it to us from a
number of perspectives. Heuck’s story, however, is not quite up to the
task. She starts well, with the lonely owl caged in the circus, but the
move to the castle where the owl who is to get rid of the mice makes
friends with them instead unravels more threads than she can gather in
again within the confines of a 24-page picture book. The story ends far
too abruptly; the owl and mouse fly away together—the end. The
narrative cries out for more development. Heuck needs a more leisurely
pace and roomier expanse to convince us. The ending feels more like an
amputation. I recommend this book only for the illustrations. Not a
first-choice purchase.