Ophie knew better than to ask such a thing, to wonder why it was that all the grown folks said nice things about people even when they were lies. She just took it as part of the unspoken rules of life, the same as don’t back-talk elders and clear off the sidewalk for white folks to get by. Things that had always existed, that she couldn’t question or argue, any more than she could argue with the rain.”

This book was touching and harrowing in the way that only middle grade books can be. The combination of writing for children while never simplifying or sugarcoating the truth and the innocence and joy of a child’s perspective are fantastic here.
My only downside would be that the middle mystery part felt rather obvious, but that might be because I am an adult. ( )

A12-year-old Black girl in 1920s Georgia learns she has the ability to commune with ghosts—and goes on to help solve a mysterious death.

Ophelia “Ophie” Harrison was startled awake by her father’s urgently telling her to grab their emergency money, wake her mother, and escape to the woods—just before White men came and burned their house to the ground. The next morning, she found out those same men had already murdered her father; what she had seen was his ghost. Her mother, dealing with her own grief and their new reality, is not ready to hear of Ophie’s talent, so after they move north to live with Aunt Rose and her family in Pittsburgh, Ophie is forced to keep quiet about it. She longs to attend school but starts working with her mother at Daffodil Manor, home to one of the city’s wealthiest families, so that they can save up for their own place. She soon discovers that ghosts fill the manor; one in particular, Clara, helps her satisfy the demands of the curmudgeonly old White lady who is their employer. In return, Ophie is determined to find out how Clara died. Once again, Ireland weaves together the fantastical with historical realities that Black Americans have faced. Ophie’s optimistic personality and the intrigue-filled story will keep pages turning all the way to the satisfying conclusion.

An enthralling journey interwoven with historical realities. (Paranormal mystery. 8-12)

-Kirkus Review

Except for the prologue, Ophie's Ghosts by Justina Ireland is set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania during 1922-1923. Its heroine, Ophelia 'Ophie' Harrison, is a 12-year-old Black girl living with her happily-married parents in the house her father built in Georgia.

As the book opens, Mr. Harrison wakes up Ophie in the middle of the night. He wants her to do three things in a hurry.
Ophie doesn't understand, especially since her mother doesn't seem to be seeing or hearing Daddy. What we learn later is infuriating and heart breaking.

Racism is an important part of this book, just as it's still an important part of Black Americans' lives today. If you find the answer given to Ophie when she asks about calling the sheriff unlikely, it's June 1, 2023 as I write this. A few days ago, an 11-year-old Black boy in Mississippi, Aderrien Murry, was shot in the chest by the very police officer whose orders he was following after he called 9-1-1 to protect his mother. He's been released from the hospital, thank God, but he should never have been shot in the first place!

Ophie and her mother move to stay with Robert Harrison's Aunt Rose and her family in Pittsburgh. Great-Aunt Rose is a good woman. Sadly, her daughter-in-law, Helen, is not. The grandchildren are brats. Helen and her brats don't want the Harrisons to be staying with them, so Mrs. Harrison is working very hard as a housemaid at a rich white family's home, Daffodil Manor. Ophie has to leave school to take a job at Daffodil Manor when a position opens up because the faster they earn money, the faster they can live in a place of their own.

Ophie's job is serving Mrs. Caruthers, widowed mother of Richard Caruthers, master of Daffodil Manor. Mrs. Caruthers spends most of her time in bed. She's cranky, exacting, and racist. The word she calls Ophie when they meet (it starts with 'pick') is an old racist term for an African-American child. One of the nasty ways she treats Ophie is pretending she doesn't know the girl's name. She usually calls Ophie 'Amelia'. Luckily, a very nice young woman named Clara helps Ophie to fix Mrs. Caruther's tea the way the harridan likes it. (Mrs. Caruthers told her to fix it the way she likes it without explanation.)

Great-Aunt Rose and Carol, the cook at Daffodil Manor, are able to give Ophie some advice, but there's no denying that Daffodil Manor is haunted. I don't want to ruin the surprise, but there are several ghosts. It takes quite a while to find out their stories. Should Ophie heed the warnings about not interacting with ghosts because they can be dangerous? Should she try helping instead? At least there are ways in which Ophie can tell if ghosts are dangerous.

It would be a very short book if Ophie didn't decide to help ghosts at the manor and elsewhere, including a murder victim. The investigation is far from easy. Things also go wrong in Ophie's personal life.

Relatives from Virginia are going to be visiting the Caruthers soon. Other servants are hired to help open up the unused rooms in the manor. Most don't stay long because of the ghosts. One who does is Penelope, an older girl. She's not at all nice at first, but she changes for the better. Penelope even helps Ophie get to see a moving picture for the first time in her life. It was so nice to read a scene in which Ophie is taken to a neighborhood populated by other black citizens. It's a place where, for once, she doesn't have to worry about the unwritten rules about dealing with white people.

NOTES:

Prologue:

a. John Henry is an American folk hero. He was a Black steel driver. According to the story, he beat a mechanical drilling machine, but overexerted himself and died. His story is told in a ballad, songs, cartoons, and films.

b. What happened to Tommy Williams is much kinder than what happened to 14-year-old Emmet Till in 1955. At least Tommy lived.

Chapter 1:

a. The Harrisons lived in Darling, Georgia.

b. Jim Crow laws are supposed to have ended in 1968, but the mindset that created them is still with us.

c. This chapter has descriptions of the kinds of auras ghosts have that Ophie has seen.

Chapter 2: The Daffodil Manor subchapter after this chapter names some of the ghosts.

Chapter 4: We learn about painting windowsills and a porch overhang a pale blue called 'haint blue' to keep ghosts out. Salt and iron are also protection against ghosts.

Chapter 5: Cook started at Daffodil Manor as the scullery maid when she was about 12. Her husband, Henry, came to Pittsburgh with Mrs. Caruthers when she moved after marrying. Cook and Henry's children worked at the manor until they grew up and left. As we learned in chapter 3, one of those children was a son named Leo. They had at least two daughters. Deirdre, the Irish washer woman gets fired, so the old couple and the Harrisons are the only servants.

Chapter 6: Ulrich Bonnell Phillips was a real author. The description in the book matches what I read on Wikipedia. Ugh.

Chapter 9: The flu epidemic Clara started working at Daffodil Manor after it was over was the great influenza pandemic of 1918-1919. It killed about 675,000 Americans (about 620,000 Americans died in our Civil War). That pandemic killed about 50 million people worldwide. By comparison, according to the World Health Organization, 1,127,152 Americans have died from Covid-19 and 6,938,353 deaths worldwide as of 2 June 2023.

Chapter 10: Aunt Rose mentions an Aunt Sarah who will help Ophie learn more.

Chapter 13: Rudolph Valentino was a big movie star in the 1920s. He was called 'the Latin Lover'.

Chapter 15:

a. Agatha Christie had her first book publication in 1920 and her second in 1922, so it's strange that Clara speaks of her as if she had had several books published before Clara died.

b. Colin's words to Ophie suggests that Mrs. Caruthers had used a whip before.

Chapter 17:

a. The ghost in the study, who was identified as Edward Caruthers in the subchapter after chapter 2, now says he is Alexander Caruthers, the son of the man who built Daffodil Manor. This may have been corrected by publication.

b. Great-Aunt Rose tells Ophie a story about her mother and a ghost.

Chapter 20: The word that Mrs. Caruthers calls Penelope, which starts with 'jig' is another disgusting racist term.

Chapter 22:

a. Ophie attends the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

b. This is the chapter in which Ophie and Penelope go to the cinema. 'Center Avenue' for 'Centre Avenue' may have been corrected by publication. The spelling of 'Elmore Theatre' is correct. The USA still used British spellings during the period this book takes place.

c. Oscar Micheaux was an author and an independent film producer as well as a film director. He was the first black independent filmmaker.

Chapter 26: Ophie frees another ghost and we learn why Colin's ghost left Virginia for Daffodil Manor.

I don't know how easily the intended audience (readers 8 to 12 years old), will be able to solve the murder mystery. I'm 68 and have been reading mysteries since I was given my first Nancy Drew books 60 years ago, so I had an advantage. The story is absorbing, the heroine likable. I really enjoyed this book. ( )

Ophelia sees dead people. After her dad saves their lives in rural Georgia (after he is murdered), Ophelia and her mom go to Pittsburgh for a fresh start. They end up working for a wealthy white family, the Carruthers. The house is full of spirits and Ophelia must figure out her way to navigate her talents and use them.
She meets Clara, a pretty ghost who is also plotting revenge.
Engaging read. ( )

4.5 out of 5 stars

This was a great, middle-grade, historical fiction, mystery novel! I love Ophie, she is so caring and strong, a great role model for young children. I love reading middle-grade novels because they jump right into the story and keep you interested throughout the story and this novel was no different. The story starts with Ophie waking up in the middle of the night to her dad telling her to get her mom and escape to her hiding hole, what an opener. The story only gets better from there.

This story is fast-paced and entertaining, and I am very much looking forward to reading more books from Justina Ireland in the future. ( )