There Are Ghosts Here by Adrienne Tooley
on August 11, 2026
Genres: Grief, Mystery, Supernatural
Format: Young Adult
Goodreads

There Are Ghosts Here by Adrienne Tooley is an atmospheric, gothic mystery with a great message, but its slow plot holds it back. The main character, Willa, is a troubled teen who arrives at Dorsey House with nothing but vague memories of a fire and the impression that she was sent away for starting it. With the two other girls in the house, Caroline and Ivy, she tries to solve the mystery of Dorsey House. Why are they there? Why can’t they remember? And most importantly, how do they get back home? Dorsey House is described in classic gothic fashion. It’s an old mansion on a tall sea cliff surrounded by fog. The house’s caretakers, The Dorsey’s, are a secretive elderly couple who make the girls do chores when they are not in Margaret’s odd “therapy” sessions which send the girls into flashbacks with a touch of her hands. Willa begins seeing the ghost of a drowned woman in these sessions and believes that she is being haunted by her.

Tooley’s flowery writing will make or break the reader’s experience. Willa describes her relationship with Caroline and Ivy as “a triangle, it is an isosceles – their two sides of equal length, mine a diminutive third”, frequent metaphors paired with long descriptions of the house and grounds adds to the slowness of the story. The mystery is stretched over so much of the plot that readers may feel underwhelmed with the big reveal. The overarching idea of Dorsey House as a place for girls to make peace with their past traumas is effective. But the methods of memory recovery and acceptance, like therapy and journaling, are obvious and aren’t respected by the characters in the story.

The stunning cover art will probably get readers interested, but 257 pages for a simple metaphor for trauma and recovery may be a big ask for readers who don’t already love gothic literature.

Reviewed by Ivy Burns, Merrill Memorial Library, Yarmouth