Review:
A young governess is hired by a man to care for his niece and nephew. He leaves them entirely in her care and makes it clear that he doesn't want to be bothered about them.
The governess is quickly charmed by Flora but is somewhat nervous about Miles, the eldest of the two, when she receives a letter saying that he has been expelled from his boarding school. When Miles arrives, however, he turns out to be just as charming as Flora, and the governess can't bring herself to ask what happened at school.
After the governess sees a couple unexpected people on the grounds, she learns that they may be the ghosts of Miss Jessel, the previous governess, and another former employee, Peter Quint. She becomes obsessed with the idea that the children have seen these two as well and are somehow being negatively influenced by them.
My first attempt at this was via audiobook, and I just could not - following along with the words was too difficult and boring, and I eventually just gave up. But I do generally like "governess and creepy children" stories, so I decided to give it another go in print.
Supposedly there is a tense and haunting atmosphere. I didn't feel it. It seemed to me that instead of adding to the overall atmosphere, the writing buried everything. The result was an utter slog that took me a huge amount of willpower to get through. I was hoping that I'd at least be rewarded with an excellent ending, but instead it just left me feeling empty and confused. I did some searching online to see if I'd missed something, and read part of the introduction included with my edition of the book. None of this improved the story for me.
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