Portraits of Celina (10th anniversary edition) by Sue Whiting

Title: Portraits of Celina (10^th anniversary edition)

Author: Sue Whiting

Genre: Mystery, Ghost Stories

Publisher: Walker Books

Published: 1^st September 2023

Format: Paperback

Pages: 352

Price: $19.99

Synopsis: A haunting and page-turning classic from an award-winning author.

It’s as if the wooden chest is luring me, urging me to open it – daring me almost. Open me up. Look inside. Come on, just for a second; it won’t hurt.

Celina O’Malley was sixteen years old when she disappeared. Now, almost forty years later, Bayley is living in Celina’s old house, sleeping in the same room, wearing her clothes and, most strangely, hearing her voice. What does Celina want with Bayley?

But Bayley has her own problems, she’s dealing with her father’s death, the move to a new town and her family falling to pieces around her. Bayley needs to solve the mystery of Celina before it’s all too late.

A ghost story. A love story. A story of revenge.

~*~

Forty years ago, sixteen-year-old Celina O’Malley disappeared in 1973 – never to be seen again, and sending shockwaves through her family and community, altering them forever. In 2013, Bayley has moved to Celina’s old family home with her mother and siblings, about a year after the sudden death of her father, and everyone seems to be falling apart. Her older sister, Amelia, is running off with new friends that appear to be getting her in trouble. Mum is working in a job that’s not really her and doesn’t seem to be coping. And Bayley is left to hold it all together, to be the responsible one and look after her younger brother, Seth as they navigate a new life, new neighbours, and people from the past who knew Celina.

Bayley’s living in Celina’s old house, staying in Celina’s old room that has a peace chest filled with Celina’s things. She’s drawn to it and the clothes, and the whispers that surround her about her uncanny resemblance to Celina – something that everyone claims is good genetics, or that they don’t notice. Bayley feels drawn to the chest in a way that nobody else is and starts wearing her clothes – and hearing her voice. Everyone around her had a connection to Celina or knows someone who did or does. But Celina wants something from Bayley. She wants her to solve the mystery of her disappearance.

As Bayley contends with her family falling apart, trying to fit in with everyone in Tallowood, and everything that comes with being a teenage girl, she now has a vengeful ghost to contend with. The family has faced ongoing tragedy, and Bayley can’t tell anyone what is going on – nobody would believe her, and the small town still lives through the O’Malley pain. When Celina’s anger starts to channel itself through and around Bayley, trying to tell her what really happened, Bayley is determined to find out at first. And yet, Celina’s presence complicates things. What is Bayley willing to risk to get rid of the ghostly voice and uncover the truth?

I’ve read other books by Sue Whiting and none of them had a ghost story element to it, but there’s always a mystery element to her books. In this one, aimed at young adult readers aged fourteen and over, she adds a ghost story in that feels sinister from the start. Filled with ghosts, love, revenge, and grief, this book explores a range of emotions and relationships deeply from familial relationships to friendships, to romantic relationships and everything in between the good and the bad. Sue Whiting has created a world where as a reader, I was constantly on edge, feeling like there was something not quite right around the corner coupled with the tensions of a grieving family where one person seems to fade into the background in some ways, where everything falls to them to fix. It was no wonder Bayley felt the way she did – wanting to just be a young girl enjoying life, making friends, and falling in love. Yet she’s stuck trying to help her family, be the perfectly behaved daughter, and work out how to get rid of an angry ghost with no help – apart from Deb, Celina’s friend whom Bayley is able to confide in.

This is a chilling book – one that is worthy of the ghost story categorisation it fits into, but without being too over the top like some can be. It is cleverly crafted and written, with everything threaded together properly and revealed in a timely manner, as any good mystery does. What worked well was the ebbing and flowing of the story – the gentle moments and the intense moments that appeared throughout, allowing misunderstandings to happen so that as things started to fall together, the tension grew and grew, creating a finale that was intense as the mystery came to the pointy end.

The book is told through Bayley’s perspective, giving the story a strong voice and character that observed everything intently as her world changed day-to-day in this book. Whenever Bayley felt uncertain, the reader felt uncertain. I wanted to find out what happened and felt compelled to read most of it in one sitting, with the book keeping me awake at night so I could find out what happened and how it all ended. It has a nice creepy feeling to it, but it isn’t gratuitous or over the top. It allows for uneasiness and unsettling feelings to evolve whilst not being overly confronting and examining human behaviour and how it develops, how people evolve and change throughout the years, and how everyone recognises each other – or doesn’t, even in small towns and communities.

This is an engaging and interesting book, with layers that everyone will see differently and understand in their own way, which is always what makes a book work and sing, and ten years later, I think this will be one that people come to connect with in a range of ways.