# The Ghost's Child > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/The_Ghost's_Child > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/The_Ghost's_Child.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ghost's_Child > Source revision: 1356489770 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) 2007 novel by Australian writer Sonya Hartnett The Ghost's Child Author Sonya Hartnett Language English Genre Fiction Publisher Penguin Books Publication date 2007 Publication place Australia Media type Print Pages 178 pp ISBN 9780670029457 ***The Ghost's Child*** (2007) is a fantasy novel by Australian writer [Sonya Hartnett](/source/Sonya_Hartnett). The novel was originally published in the Australia by [Penguin Books](/source/Penguin_Books).[1] ## Abstract Returning home one day elderly Matilda finds a young boy sitting in her lounge room. At first a little wary of him, after he declares "I have bad news for her" she engages him in conversation and slowly begins to tell him the story of her life. ## Publishing history Following the book's initial publication by [Penguin Books](/source/Penguin_Books) in 2007 it was subsequently reprinted as follows: - Walker Books, UK, 2008[2] - Candlewick Press, USA, 2008[3] The novel was translated into Swedish in 2008[3] and Penguin Books released a paperback version of the book in 2009.[4] ## Critical reception Writing in *Australian Book Review* Rebecca Starford called the book "part fable, part love story" and noted that Hartnett's "tales brim with nuance and, though straightforward, are disarmingly sophisticated; her weighty symbolism, saturating the most desiccated of landscapes, is one of the finest in our national literature. In an attempt to catalogue her original voice, Hartnett has often been classified as a children’s or young adult fiction writer, categories that she has resisted, often vehemently, for many years. Although her novels continue to adopt child and teenage perspectives, her literary preoccupations span all ages."[5] Victoria Flanagan at *The Conversation* called the book "a whimsical and poignant modern fairy tale that celebrates feminine experience and strength", and "a tender meditation on the life choices and experiences that mould and influence the people we eventually become."[6] ## Awards - [CBCA](/source/Children's_Book_Council_of_Australia) [Children's Book of the Year Award for Older Readers](/source/Children's_Book_of_the_Year_Award%3A_Older_Readers), 2008, winner[7] ## See also - [2007 in Australian literature](/source/2007_in_Australian_literature) ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["*The Ghost's Child* by Sonya Hartnett (Penguin 2007)"](https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/3886019). National Library of Australia. Retrieved 7 October 2024. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["*The Ghost's Child* by Sonya Hartnett (Walker Books)"](https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4397439). National Library of Australia. Retrieved 7 October 2024. 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Austlit_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Austlit_3-1) ["*The Ghost's Child* by Sonya Hartnett"](https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C625694). Austlit. Retrieved 7 October 2024. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["*The Ghost's Child* by Sonya Hartnett (Penguin 2009)"](https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4593802). National Library of Australia. Retrieved 7 October 2024. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** [""Ghost's roads, ghost's lives by Rebecca Starford""](https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/archive/2007/296-october-2007-no-295/9059-rebecca-starford-reviews-the-ghost-s-child-by-sonya-hartnett). Australian Book Review, October 2007. Retrieved 7 October 2024. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["The case for The Ghost's Child by Sonya Hartnett"](https://theconversation.com/the-case-for-the-ghosts-child-by-sonya-hartnett-24055). The Conversation, 26 March 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2024. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** [""CBCA – Winners 2008""](https://www.cbca.org.au/winners-2008). CBCA. Retrieved 7 October 2024. v t e Works by Sonya Hartnett Picture books The Boy and the Toy (2010) Come Down, Cat! (2011) Junior fiction The Silver Donkey (2004) Sadie and Ratz (2008) The Children of the King (2012) Teen and young adult fiction Wilful Blue (1994) Sleeping Dogs (1995) The Devil Latch (1996) Princes (1997) All My Dangerous Friends (1998) Stripes of the Sidestep Wolf (1999) Thursday's Child (2000) Forest (2001) Surrender (2005) The Ghost's Child (2007) Butterfly (2009) The Midnight Zoo (2010) Adult fiction Trouble All The Way (1984) Sparkle and Nightflower (1986) The Glass House (1990) Black Foxes (1996) Of a Boy (2002) Landscape with Animals (2006) Golden Boys (2014) v t e Children's Book of the Year Award for Older Readers 1946–1949 The Story of Karrawingi the Emu by Leslie Rees (1946) Shackleton's Argonauts: A Saga of the Antarctic Icepacks by Frank Hurley (1948) 1950–1959 Whalers of the Midnight Sun by Alan Villiers (1950) Verity of Sydney Town by Ruth C. Williams (1951) The Australia Book by Eve Pownall (1952) Aircraft of Today and Tomorrow by James H. Martin & W. D. Martin (1953) Good Luck to the Rider by Joan Phipson (1953) Australian Legendary Tales by K. Langloh Parker (1954) The First Walkabout by Norman B. Tindale and Harold Arthur Lindsay (1955) The Crooked Snake by Patricia Wrightson (1956) The Boomerang Book of Legendary Tales edited by Enid Moodie Heddle (1957) Tiger in the Bush by Nan Chauncy (1958) Devil's Hill by Nan Chauncy (1959) Sea Menace by John Gunn (1959) 1960–1969 All the Proud Tribesmen by Kylie Tennant (1960) Tangara by Nan Chauncy (1961) The Racketty Street Gang by L. H. Evers (1962) Rafferty Rides a Winner by Joan Woodberry (1962) The Family Conspiracy by Joan Phipson (1963) The Green Laurel by Eleanor Spence (1964) Pastures of the Blue Crane by H. F. Brinsmead (1965) Ash Road by Ivan Southall (1966) The Min-Min by Mavis Thorpe Clark (1967) To the Wild Sky by Ivan Southall (1968) When Jays Fly to Barbmo by Margaret Balderson (1969) 1970–1979 Uhu by Annette Macarthur-Onslow (1970) Bread and Honey by Ivan Southall (1971) Longtime Passing by H. F. Brinsmead (1972) Family at the Lookout by Noreen Shelley (1973) The Nargun and the Stars by Patricia Wrightson (1974) Fly West by Ivan Southall (1976) The October Child by Eleanor Spence (1977) The Ice Is Coming by Patricia Wrightson (1978) The Plum-Rain Scroll by Ruth Manley (1979) 1980–1989 Displaced Person by Lee Harding (1980) Playing Beatie Bow by Ruth Park (1981) The Valley Between by Colin Thiele (1982) Master of the Grove by Victor Kelleher (1983) A Little Fear by Patricia Wrightson (1984) The True Story of Lilli Stubeck by James Aldridge (1985) The Green Wind by Thurley Fowler (1986) All We Know by Simon French (1987) So Much to Tell You by John Marsden (1988) Beyond the Labyrinth by Gillian Rubinstein (1989) 1990–1999 Came Back to Show You I Could Fly by Robin Klein (1990) Strange Objects by Gary Crew (1991) The House Guest by Eleanor Nilsson (1992) Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta (1993) The Gathering by Isobelle Carmody (1994) Angel's Gate by Gary Crew (1995) Foxspell by Gillian Rubinstein (1995) Pagan's Vows by Catherine Jinks (1996) A Bridge to Wiseman's Cove by James Moloney (1997) Eye to Eye by Catherine Jinks (1998) Deadly, Unna? by Phillip Gwynne (1999) 2000–2009 48 Shades of Brown by Nick Earls (2000) Wolf on the Fold by Judith Clarke (2001) Forest by Sonya Hartnett (2002) The Messenger by Markus Zusak (2003) Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta (2004) The Running Man by Michael Gerard Bauer (2005) The Story of Tom Brennan by J. C. Burke (2006) Red Spikes by Margo Lanagan (2007) The Ghost's Child by Sonya Hartnett (2008) Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan (2009) 2010–2019 Jarvis 24 by David Metzenthen (2010) The Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett (2011) The Dead I Know by Scot Gardner (2012) Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan (2013) Wildlife by Fiona Wood (2014) The Protected by Claire Zorn (2015) Cloudwish by Fiona Wood (2016) One Would Think The Deep by Claire Zorn (2017) Take Three Girls by Cath Crowley, Fiona Wood and Simmone Howell (2018) Between Us by Clare Atkins (2019) 2020–present This is How We Change the Ending by Vikki Wakefield (2020) The End of the World Is Bigger than Love by Davina Bell (2021) Tiger Daughter by Rebecca Lim (2022) Neverlanders by Tom Taylor (2023) Grace Notes by Karen Comer (2024) I'm Not Really Here by Gary Lonesborough (2025) Picture Book (1955–present) Early Childhood (2001–present) Younger Readers (1982–present) Eve Pownall Award for Information Books (1988–present) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [The Ghost's Child](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ghost's_Child) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ghost's_Child?action=history)). 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