The Time of the Ghost

by Diana Wynne Jones

  The Homeward Bounders

  Howl’s Moving Castle

  The Ogre Downstairs

  Power of Three

  Stopping for a Spell

  A Tale of Time City

  Warlock at the Wheel and Other Stories

  Year of the Griffin

  Yes, Dear

  THE WORLDS OF CHRESTOMANCI

  Book 1: Charmed Life

  Book 2: The Lives of Christopher Chant

  Book 3: The Magicians of Caprona

  Book 4: Witch Week

  Mixed Magics: Four Tales of Chrestomanci

  The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Volume 1

  (Contains books 1 and 2)

  The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Volume 2

  (Contains books 3 and 4)

  THE DALEMARK QUARTET

  Book 1: Cart and Cwidder

  Book 2: Drowned Ammet

  Book 3: The Spellcoats

  Book 4: The Crown of Dalemark

  CREDITS

  Cover art © 2012 by Paul O. Zelinsky

  Cover design by Sylvie Le Floc’h

  COPYRIGHT

  HarperTrophy® is a registered trademark of HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

  THE TIME OF THE GHOST

  Copyright © 1981 by Diana Wynne Jones

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Jones, Diana Wynne.

  The Time of the Ghost / by Diana Wynne Jones.—1st American ed.

  p. cm.

  “Greenwillow Books.”

  “First published in Great Britain in 1981 by Macmillan Children’s Books” —T.p. verso.

  Summary: A ghost, uncertain of her identity, watches the four Melford sisters hatch a plan to get their parents’ attention and slowly becomes aware of the danger from a supernatural power unleashed by the girls and their friends from the boys’ boarding school run by the Melfords.

  ISBN 0-06-029887-1—ISBN 0-06-447354-6 (pbk.)

  EPub Edition © JANUARY 2012 ISBN 9780062200839

  [1. Ghosts—Fiction. 2. Sisters—Fiction. 3. Supernatural—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.J684 Ti 1996 95-36155

  [Fic]—dc20 CIP

  AC

  First Harper Trophy edition, 2002

  Visit us on the World Wide Web!

  www.harperteen.com

  BACK AD

  Also by Diana Wynne Jones

  The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Volume I and Volume II

  The Chrestomanci oversees the magic in all the worlds. Omnibus editions of the first four novels featuring Diana Wynne Jones’s most beloved characters. Contains Charmed Life, The Lives of Christopher Chant, Witch Week, and The Magicians of Caprona.

  Conrad’s Fate

  With the help of Christopher Chant, can Conrad figure out who is pulling the possibilities and putting his world at risk … and also stay ahead of his dark fate? A Chrestomanci Book.

  The Dalemark Quartet, Volume 1 and Volume 2

  Omnibus editions of all four books in the thrilling fantasy epic, The Dalemark Quartet: Cart and Cwidder, Drowned Ammet, The Spellcoats, and The Crown of Dalemark.

  Dark Lord of Derkholm

  When Derk is chosen to play Dark Lord, he is forced by the sinister Mr. Chesney to turn his country estate into a castle lit by baleful fires, manifest himself as a nine-foot-tall shadow, and lead his minions in a battle against the forces of good.

  Year of the Griffin

  At Wizard’s University, Wizard Derk’s griffin daughter Elda and her fellow first-year students encounter tyrannical tutors, boring lectures, and truly terrible refectory food.

  Dogsbody

  Sirius, immortal Lord of the Dog Star, is outraged when he is falsely accused of murder and banished to Earth. There he must live—and die—in the body of a dog unless he can retrieve a mysterious celestial weapon and thereby clear his name.

  Fire and Hemlock

  Polly tries to reconcile her two sets of memories and discover the truth behind her friendship with musician Tom Lynn in time to save him.

  www.harperteen.com • www.dianawynnejones.com

  Hexwood

  Through her window, Ann watches person after person disappear through the gate of Hexwood Farm. Then strangeness spreads from Earth right out to the center of the galaxy.

  The Homeward Bounders

  After Jamie discovers that mysterious beings are manipulating worlds in an elaborate game, they send him bouncing from world to world—until he tries to use their own rules to defeat them.

  Howl’s Moving Castle

  When the Witch of the Waste turns Sophie into an old woman, Sophie finds refuge in the floating castle of a mysterious man. People and things are never quite what they seem in this entrancing fantasy.

  Castle in the Air

  Abdullah was content with his daydreams until the day a stranger sold him a magic carpet. This fast-paced fantasy is full of djinns, wizards, a floating castle, kidnapped princesses, and two puzzling prophecies.

  The Merlin Conspiracy

  Roddy, Nick, and Grundo come together from different worlds in an attempt to unseat the false Merlin of Blest, who threatens the very structure of all worlds.

  A Tale of Time City

  A girl evacuated from London during the Blitz is kidnapped to Time City in the far distant future, where she must help save both Time City and all of human history.

  The Time of the Ghost

  A nameless protagonist doesn’t know why she’s invisibly floating through the buildings and grounds of a half-remembered boarding school. Then, to her horror, she encounters the ancient evil that four peculiar sisters have unwittingly woken—and learns she is the sisters’ only hope against a deadly danger.

  Unexpected Magic: Collected Stories

  In this riveting collection of stories, even the most routine lives are visited by extraordinary events.

  ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

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