Pat Robbins is a recent widow, with a teenage son named Mark. They live in one of the oldest houses in the neighborhood. Their house and the house next door are mirror images of each other, but no one has ever lived next door since Pat moved into her house, so when she sees a moving van next door, she stays home from work to watch. She finds out that her new neighbors are an older man, Josef Friedrichs, and his teenage daughter, Kathy.
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Mark and Kathy become acquainted and want to date, but Josef does not approve of Mark for various reasons, and therefore tells Kathy that she can never date Mark. Pat's attempt at neighborly friendliness with Josef is also rebuffed. Pat is discouraged, but late one night when she is driving home, she sees the lights go on next door and hears a loud scream. Pat stops her car in front of the house and runs up to the door, finding it unlocked. Pat finds Kathy on the floor, terrified, and Josef trying to comfort her. After Kathy calms down, she tells Pat and Josef that an apparition threw things around in her room and threw a lamp at her head. Kathy asks Pat to stay with her the rest of the night.
The next day Pat finds out that Mark and Kathy have been secretly meeting. That night the apparition not only comes back to Kathy's room but also throws a large vase at Josef as he was in the hallway running to Kathy's room. Pat invites Josef and Kathy to stay at her house until Josef decides on a course of action. Mark and Kathy find information that might explain why the apparition is manifesting itself and why it attacked Kathy and Josef, but there are pieces missing. All four people try to learn as much history about the houses that they can. Some interesting things they find out are that the houses date back to before the Civil War, and that the Civil War divided the occupants of one house from those of the other. In the midst of that, there was a secret romance.
The review of this Book prepared by Crystal
