Games by Robin Klein

Kirsty invites Patricia to come along for a weekend in an old country home owned by her Aunt Maude. Kirsty and her best friend Genevieve are 'cool kids' who wield their power over quiet shy girls like Patricia. The three girls catch a train and then walk along undefined paths to reach this remote house. Kirsty has a plan to invite a group of boys who go to the school next door to their posh girl's academy. To fill in time (and later we discover) to scare innocent Patricia, Kirsty and Genevieve hold a seance. They tell Patricia about a woman who was murdered in the house years ago and then they weave all sort of mischief into the seance and place things around the home such as a solitary candle at the bottom of the stairs to try to spook Patricial. BUT while they are playing their game a young boy arrives. Kirsty is utterly obnoxious towards him and he flees. But did he really leave. And who replaced the fresh wildflowers Patricia picked and had placed in a vase in the kitchen with dead weeds? Who left a single white glove on the windowsill in the upstairs room where she was trying to sleep? How did the music box suddenly started playing? Why is there no one there when the phone rings? And what about the piece of paper in the typewriter which has the words "Polly put the kettle on". Oh and there is that awful lingering smell of lavender. 

There are lots of mysterious and frightening noises around the house and there is a wild rainstorm raging outside which all adds to the atmosphere of this 'ghost' story but it is also a story about these three girls - one vicious, one cool and calculating and one a gentle girl who feels out of place in the school as a scholarship student. Patricia starts out weak and compliant happy to have been invited to this weekend but as the night progresses, she gains confidence and finally enough strength to confront the cruelty of Kirsty and Genevieve. Patricia is a strong girl and way more mature - she has been caring for her mum ever since her dad died. Her mum clearly has serious mental health issues.

The chapter titles in this book add to the mystery - "This is the house that Jack built"; "Here comes a candle to light you to bed"; "Simon says"; "Hush a bye baby"; "Polly put the kettle on"; "Three blind mice see how they run"; and "I spy with my little eye."

"There is a fine build-up of suspense, and the supernatural element is created with skill. There are three levels of games played: the malicious games of Kirsty and Genevieve, which are played on Patricia; the menacing game that Darcy plays on the girls; and the fame the author plays on the reader." The Oxford Companion to Australian Children's Literature by Stella Lees and Pam Macintyre.

I have a box of older books collected from charity bookfairs, street libraries, and library discards. I found Games at the bottom of the box last week and thought I would revisit this having first read this book in 1986. 

Has this book stood the test of time? Yes, even though there are no mobile phones which modern readers might find curious. And there is a reference to AIDS. What I did discover is that this book is very much a Young Adult title - for ages 13+. It contains very strong language - oddly I had no memory of this. In fact, I had this book in my former Primary School library but after this reading I would certainly pull this book off my shelves and pass it on to a local High School. It is interesting to look at the range of covers above. The first one is the hardcover from 1986 and this is the one I had in several Primary School libraries. 

I took at The Proof of the Puddin': Australian Children's Literature 1970-1990 by Maurice Saxby to see what he thought of Games. He used these words in his descriptions:

• "cruelly repulsive Kirsty and Genevieve"
• "two obnoxious teenagers in the skillfully plotted and adeptly narrated thriller, Games."
• "a cat and mouse game."
• "Patricia is led to take stock of her life and reassess her sense of social values."
• "vicious"

Take a look at my previous post about Robin Klein.