The ghost of Thomas Kempe

[Eilidh]

This is actually a thing for school, I thought it'd make a good review :B


The ghost of Thomas Kempe CEL


“The Ghost of Thomas Kempe” by Penelope Lively, is a supernatural story. It was first published in 1973, by William Heinemann Ltd. Is interesting plot and well thought out characters made it a gripping ghost story. I'm going to explain why.

The plot of “The ghost of Thomas Kempe” like all plots is an important part of the story. The book takes place in a quiet village called Ledsham, and it's about a young boy called James. James' house is being haunted by a seventeenth-century sorcerer, at first it's all harmless but it begins to get and worse and then gets very dangerous.


The characters are also important, and help make “The ghost of Thomas Kempe” a gripping ghost story. The main character is James, a boy around 10 or so. He is messy, adventurous and always up to no good.


“He stamped up to the bathroom,
and washed the backs of his hands, leaving
the palms untouched, Helen needn't think she
could win a total victory”


“Helen, of course had never
discovered that you
could climb the apple
tree that overhung the
back of the house and
get from thence on to
the ledge of a chimney
stack. And she'd not
noticed that possibilities of
the rubbish heap at
the far end of the orchard
full of stuff chucked out by
the workmen, which he had yet to
examine properly”


“And the trouble is, he thought, that
I'm the sort of boy who might
do that sort of ting. And
she knows because it's the sort
of thing I do sometimes”


But he is only one of the main characters, the second main character is the ghost, Thomas Kempe. Thomas Kempe is a sorcerer from the seventeenth century, he wishes to make James his apprentice


Key Scene one


When James goes to the chemist with Helens prescription and there is writing all over it. This is a key point in the story because it's when James starts to suspect there is something weird going on. I think it's gripping because yo want to find out who is writing on the things. When it tells us that on the prescription it says
“Take the leaves of Lungwart which
is a herb of Jupiter, boile them and
make of them a syrupe which will
much ease a coughe. I counsell
thee also to saye certeine charmes
over the sicke childe”
we guess that the person writing the notes must be old fashioned. It is the second of what seems to be a pattern in the story. It is so important because it gives us a hint that it will probably happen several more times after
“The matter of the blackboard
had been one thing – there were
various explanations for that which
were quite possible but this was
something else altogether.”


Key scene two


Another important scene is when Bert Ellison comes to exorcise Thomas Kempe, it is gripping because you want to know what happens to Bert, James and Thomas. It is key to the story because it might result in Thomas Kempes character coming to an end. Bert decides to “bottle” Thomas Kempe, trapping him inside the bottle so that he can't get out again. At the end of the scene we find out that Thomas has obviously fallen for this trick before. He wont go into the bottle again so Bert and Thomas are forced to come up with another idea.
“Bottling him?” said James, wondering
if he could have heard correctly.”
Key scene three


The final key scene is when Thomas Kempe sets fire to Mrs Verity's cottage. It is key because it's when Thomas goes very dangerous, he could have killed or seriously injured Mrs Verity. This means James really needs to try and get rid of him, luckily Mrs Verity wasn't hurt but everyone thinks it was local “hooligans”. Of course James doesn't tell anyone – apart from his friend Simon – that it was Thomas Kempe that did it.


My opinion on “The Ghost of Thomas Kempe” is that it was a well written and structured book, although the beginning was a bit slow, it was enjoyable and you can easily get sucked into it. I would recommend it to the younger audience, I think it is a children's book. So over all it was a interesting story and a easy book to read.