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    Ammie, Come Home
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    Ammie, Come Home
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    Ammie, Come Home
    Ebook279 pages4 hours

    Ammie, Come Home

    By Barbara Michaels

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    It begins as a lark -- a harmless diversion initiated by Washington, D.C., hostess Ruth Bennett as a means of entertaining her visiting niece, Sara. But the séance conducted in Ruth's elegant Georgetown home calls something back; something unwelcome ... and palpably evil. Suddenly Sara is speaking in a voice not her own, transformed into a miserable, whimpering creature so unlike her normal, sensible self. No tricks or talismans will dispel the malevolence that now plagues the inhabitants of this haunted place -- until a dark history of treachery, lust, and violence is exposed. But the cost might well be the sanity and the lives of the living.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 13, 2009
    ISBN9780061840951
    Unavailable
    Ammie, Come Home
    Author

    Barbara Michaels

    Elizabeth Peters (writing as Barbara Michaels) was born and brought up in Illinois and earned her Ph.D. in Egyptology from the University of Chicago's famed Oriental Institute. Peters was named Grandmaster at the inaugural Anthony Awards in 1986, Grandmaster by the Mystery Writers of America at the Edgar® Awards in 1998, and given The Lifetime Achievement Award at Malice Domestic in 2003. She lives in an historic farmhouse in western Maryland.

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    Reviews for Ammie, Come Home

    4/5

    175 ratings15 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I wish there were more stars to give this book. I have read this book at least 15 times since I discovered it in 1970. The library gave it to me when they took the paperback off their shelf mainly because it was falling apart. Anyone that loves a good ghost story, a good romance and historical fiction will also love this book.
    • 2/5
      Suspenseful ghost story, a very easy read.
    • 4/5
      Where to start? I've been hearing my mom rave about how much she loved this book for ever, which in the way of such things between mothers and daughter sometimes, had the perverse effect of making me disinclined to read it. This is spite of my enjoyment of ghost stories and Barbara Michaels' other work. (N.B. I love my mom, just stupid vestiges of teenage stubbornness I suppose.) When I first cracked it open I got up to chapter 3 and nothing much had happened; a bad dream, a bit of foreshadowing. This was somehow worse; I knew it was going to get creepy, it was going to happen any page now... But all the (necessary) setup made it easy to put the book down until the next day. I was right; everything starts hitting the fan soon into chapter 4 - and that's where the trouble started for me, because this is a buddy read, and I should be pacing myself, reading small sections to savour and discuss with friends, and I can't put the book down, I have to find out what happens next!! Hot tea was brewed in vain, only to go cold and neglected; by chapter 6 I was firmly of two minds about this book - it was creeptastically gripping and unbelievably condescending and dated in its tone. As others have noted, Patrick was ...unlikeable. Add to this his behaviour in at least one scene and way too much vagueness pertaining to Ruth's past and I was... unimpressed with our protagonists. Bruce was mostly a pompous git, and Sara was rather vanilla. So while I as still enjoying the story it could go either way for me at this point. I pried myself off the book at the end of chapter 7 and swore I'd not go near it again for at least 24 hours. I think I made it the 24 hours and I'd like to say I was able to only read a bit more the next day, but that would be crap - I grudgingly went through my to-do list and then sat down with this book and wild horses were not going to part me from it until I finished. I had to know how it ended. Oh, Barbara Michaels, you crafty, crafty lady. I see what you did there. You never did explain Ruth's past clearly, but you did explain Patrick's behaviour ever so neatly; I didn't have much justification beyond his name for disliking him after that. I especially liked how you sneaked a bit of sophisticated theology in too when you thought nobody would notice. Clever, and it added a tiny bit of heft to the story without beating the reader over the head. Nice. There's no way anyone who has ever read any ghost story couldn't divine at least some of the ending, but I'll admit my sub-conscious predictions fell short: it was more complex than I had foreseen, which of course made it all the better. As to what finally felled the evil, well, that showed a complexity of theological belief that I don't see much in my spooky reads and I respect Michaels all the more because of it. All in all an excellent ghost story and one I wouldn't want to read - or re-read - after dark; I'm fairly certain it would scare the bejeezus out of me. I jest, but the worst part of the book is probably the part where I have to call mom and say: you were right! ;-)
    • 2/5
      I've read most of Elizabeth Peter's "Amelia Peabody" series and loved them all, so I thought I'd give her books written as Barbara Michaels a try. I was very disappointed, mainly because of her attitude toward women. I was a little shocked early on when Ruth's niece (Sara) began exhibiting symptoms of mental health issues, and it was suggested that maybe she needed a gynecologist, and there was more to come. Bruce, Sara's boyfriend and someone Ruth comes to respect and admire says this about women:
      "I mean, there are women you seduce and women you rape, and the women you—”
      Really?
      I can't get past the attitudes enough to like the book. I guess it was an OK ghost story.
    • 4/5
      Love this ghost story! It sent chills down my spine!
    • 4/5
      Ammie Come Home by Barbara Michaels is a 2005 Harper publication. (originally published in 1968)I pulled this book from my personal paperback collection, looking for a ‘Halloween’ read. I’ve been reading through my ‘Barbara Michaels’ books for several years now, but usually, due to the nature of her books, it’s normally around Halloween when I pluck one down from my shelf. This is one of Michaels’ earlier efforts and is the first installment in the ‘Georgetown’ series. The cast consists of four people:Ruth- the favorite auntSara- her nieceBruce- Sara’s boyfriend/fiancéPat- a professor and a possible love interest for RuthAfter a ‘parlor game’ type séance, Sara shows the telltale signs of possession. This sets the foursome off on an intense investigation to discover who is behind the possession, who is haunting Ruth’s house, and why. Their research uncovers a sordid historical mystery… But how will they quiet the spirits?This novel was originally published in 1968- and as such, it does show its age. However, despite the mild datedness and the use of many standard horror novel staples, this story is still quite effective. The story has all the great elements that create a good spooky tale of suspense. The mystery and amateur sleuthing are interesting, and the passages that describe the powerful entity haunting the characters and the house is atmospheric, and at times a little intense. I read some of Michael’s novels back when I was a teenager- although by that time the Gothic horror/mystery/romance novel was no longer a hot trend- but since horror novels were my thing back then, I was fan- and Barbara Mertz did continue to write under this pseudonym well into the nineties. For those who are not familiar- Barbara Mertz also wrote under the name ‘Elizabeth Peters’ – the author of the popular ‘Amelia Peabody’ mystery series. Her work as ‘Barbara Michaels’ is often classified as ‘Gothic’, which was super popular in the sixties and seventies. In my opinion, some of her books could fall into the horror genre- such as this one and ‘Witch’- while others are milder and might even be labeled as romantic suspense. However, in my opinion, Michaels’ work was edgier and a bit more sinister than other popular authors who fell under the ‘Gothic’ label at the time, and her style was quite unique by comparison. I must admit that the Michaels’ books I read over the past several years have been a mixed bag, though, with one or two of her last releases being barely recognizable. This one, however, was a good one and brought back memories of the books I devoured in my early teens and turned out to be my favorite ‘Halloween’ read this year. 4 stars
    • 2/5
      I've read most of Elizabeth Peter's "Amelia Peabody" series and loved them all, so I thought I'd give her books written as Barbara Michaels a try. I was very disappointed, mainly because of her attitude toward women. I was a little shocked early on when Ruth's niece (Sara) began exhibiting symptoms of mental health issues, and it was suggested that maybe she needed a gynecologist, and there was more to come. Bruce, Sara's boyfriend and someone Ruth comes to respect and admire says this about women:"I mean, there are women you seduce and women you rape, and the women you—” Really?I can't get past the attitudes enough to like the book. I guess it was an OK ghost story.
    • 5/5
      This haunting book is nearly perfectly written. Foreshadowing, likeable characters, real romance, detective work (pre-Google research!), and the ghost story kept my attention. The Kindle version kept seducing me into reading "just one more chapter because it is only 11 minutes" until I suddenly had to scramble to get ready for work. But the book was finished, so all was well in my world.And yes, I ordered the next two books in the trilogy.
    • 3/5
      Ammie, Come Home by Barbara Michaels is the first of the Georgetown gothic mysteries by Barbara Michaels. I read it after reading the last in the series, Stitches in Time first (not realizing it was part of a trilogy).It's the close of the 1960s and Ruth, a 40s something widow is having her niece, Sara, over to stay. Things begin to go awry when she is dropped off by her college professor — a man clearly going through a midlife crises — as seen through his choice of dress and his cute little sports car.Sara begins having trouble sleeping, thinking she's hearing a neighbor call for a missing bet named Sammie. But soon it's apparent that it can't be a missing pet. It has to be something more sinister. Perhaps the house is haunted? Or maybe it's all one big prank?The haunting is an excuse to drag out gender roles and gender politics — hot topics for Barbara Michaels / Elizabeth Peters early works. Although she does still include explorations of gender roles, she was tempered them and hidden them better in her plots. The Georgetown trilogy seems the most rife with gender politics of any of her books or series and the politics get in the way of an otherwise interesting (albeit formulaic) haunted house story.As I was reading it, I had a nagging sense of deja vu, and not just from having read the last book in the series. I attributed the feeling to the fact I was also reading The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong as the ghosts Chloë keeps encountering seem to be hiding in all the same places as the ones in Ruth's home.But no, the post on the Gothic Romance Forum snapped it all into place for me. There was an ABC made for TV movie in 1970. I'm sure I watched it in reruns on my grandmother's cable. I went through a phase where I watched every single horror film I could find on cable (as this was before video rental stores or streaming media).
    • 3/5
      Barbara Michaels' books are a guilty pleasure of mine. I love to read them when it is October, or raining in fall and spring. There is just something cozy about them that you can read under a blanket with a cup of tea. I own most of her books written as Michaels, and all are well worn and well-loved paperbacks.I did not have Ammie Come Home, so I borrowed it from the library. The copy I received was a dull gray, library bound without a cover picture. It was so old looking and the pages so soft. I think these tactile qualities helped transport me back to the time when this book was first published, in 1968.You could really tell that this book was written and published in the 60s. There were references to hippies, protests, stereotypical gender roles, miniskirts, and smoking. I think it was all the casual smoking that really struck me; Ruth is portrayed as a distinguished, demure woman in her 50s or so, and she was always lighting up. A cigarette here, a cigarette before bed, I am not sure why this seemed so odd to me but it did. I don’t think I have really read anything lately where the main character smokes. It just was out of character to me; I feel now smoking is used as a device to show a character is flawed, rebellious, or quirky, and Ruth was none of those things. Despite all this, I thought the fact that the book was from the perspective of a slightly older woman, and had an element of romance for her too, was pretty forward thinking.Like all good ghost stories, this one starts with a séance. I have an irrational fear of séances and Ouija boards, thanks to the Exorcist. Ammie Come Home was no different in that regard – a séance served as a doorway for the supernatural. And this story was pretty “spooktacular”. There were a few parts where I got the creepy crawlies from reading it even. There were all sorts of ghostly activity – apparitions, possession (which the book called shadowing), a creepy bodiless voice, and things falling over. Selling the house was out of the question. So what to do? Solve the mystery of course! I love books that are collegiate, with lots of references to classes, people studying classic subjects minutely and specifically, and the characters in this book were college professors and students, and when presented with a mystery, started researching heavily in libraries and books.This book is the first in the Georgetown Series – I have actually read the second and third and really liked them. It was nice to see the origins of Pat and Ruth, who make appearances in the other books. I find these books perfect for the blustery weather of fall, when I can get cuddly on the couch and be really lazy. And you will have to read to find out about Ammie.
    • 5/5
      My all-time favorite book--the one that made me to become a writer. AMMIE, COME HOME has been called the best American supernatural mystery of the 20th century and I heartily agree.The story involves Ruth Bennett, owner of an elegant Georgetown home, and her niece Sara, who is staying with Ruth while attending college. One night Sara starts exhibiting behavior that can be explained as either possession or, well…insanity. The book, as reviewers have said, is “dripping with atmosphere,” and downright “chilling.” But under the chills and the atmosphere, AMMIE is a story of the unlikely alliance--Ruth, Sara’s scruffy boyfriend Bruce, and college professor Pat MacDougal—that tries to save the girl.I pull this book out and re-read it every couple of years. It's my comfort read.
    • 5/5
      March 8, 1999Ammie, Come HomeBarbara MichaelsThe scariest Barbara Michaels of all! Young (college-age) Sara comes to stay with her Aunt Ruth (a thinly veiled Barbara Michaels, really) in Washington, D.C. It’s Ruth who tells the story.A voice in the backyard calling “Ammie, come home!” night after night…. A séance…and finally, possession of Sara by a troubled spirit. The creepiest moment is when Ruth looks at Sara and sees someone else looking back at her from Sara’s eyes. Chills! I read somewhere that the author herself made herself a little nervous with this one!
    • 3/5
      Originally published in 1968, this still holds up. A seance in a Georgetown House brings out a vengeful ghost. One of Michaels' (aka Barbara Mertz, Elizabeth Peters) earliest novelw. There are two later books with some of the same characters showing up in new situations: Shattered Silk, and Stitches in Time.
    • 4/5
      One of my favorite books since I first read it in the early 70s (published in 1968). I like the atmosphere of Georgetown old and new, and the ghost story. Barbara Micheals is one pseudonym of Barbara Mertz, who has a Ph.D in Egyptology. She uses Michaels for her gothics, and writes mysteries as Elizabeth Peters.
    • 4/5
      First in a series of three, this tells the story of Ruth, a widow living with her niece in a stately old Georgetown home, when a strange smoke starts appearing. When Ruth starts dating Pat, Sara begins to show signs of possession, leading Ruth, Pat and Bruce to figure out what's going on.