Product Description

In the summer of 1976, on holiday in South Wales, fifteen-year-old Richard is shocked and fascinated to meet the tenants of the historic Wish House. Jay Dalton is a well-known artist, and his large, bohemian family – casually stripping naked on the beach, smoking dope, ignoring convention – seem astonishingly glamorous. Richard falls under the spell of beautiful, free-spirited Clio, Jay’s daughter. She seduces him in a secret forest grotto, where they spend idyllic days playing out her favourite Celtic myths of brave grail knights and powerful enchantresses. But why does Jay paint so many nude studies of Clio? Why is he obsessed with the need to paint Richard? Why does his wife grow poisonous plants in her Witch’s Garden? The Daltons’ dark secrets draw Richard into a world of disturbing relationships, where he discovers, too late, that his innocent arrival at the Wish House was no accident . . .

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #249737 in Books
• Published on: 2005-03-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 208 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Rees is undoubtedly a popular and prolific writer for young people, but ever since the immense success of her historical sagas like Witch Child and Pirates!, she has not written many of the disturbing thrillers or other kinds of psychologically taught fiction for young adults like she used too. The Wish House is just such a novel, being moody and very dark, with emotions aplenty simmering under the surface of each page.

Richard, Rees’ main character and in his twenties when the book begins, recalls a tumultuous, pivotal summer in his life. In 1976, while on holiday in South Wales, he was a naive 15-year-old temporarily in the thrall of a family of free-living, free-loving, drug-imbibing bohemians who have renovated and moved into one of his old childhood haunts, the Wish House. He is shocked by their nudity, openness and artistic lifestyle but is lured into their world by kindness, sexual awakening and fascination.

The object of his affections, Clio, is like no girl he has ever met before. She is fresh-faced, gorgeous, supremely confident and easy to talk to. They soon become intimate and Richard loses himself to her completely. For days on end, in the hot summer sun, while Richard poses for Clio’s father, Jay, a famous artist, her mother and brother swirl around them, greeting friends, eating, drinking, swimming, partying on the beach--living a decadent life with no inhibitions. But Richard soon discovers there are secrets in this house, and that surface appearances can hide complicated and twisted relationships that will finally explode into tragedy. Rees’ book is about how people can manipulate others, and how innocents can be so easily snared by something different and seemingly glamorous. Instead of focusing on plot, the author dissects her cast of characters and exposes their many foibles to great effect. (Age 14 and over) --John McLay

About the Author

Celia lives in Leamington Spa. She divides her time between writing, talking to readers in schools and libraries, and teaching creative writing on the University of Warwick’s Open Studies Programme. For many years she taught English in city comprehensive schools. Her highly acclaimed novels for older children and teenagers include WITCH CHILD, PIRATES and TRUTH OR DARE.

Customer Reviews

Lacking in her usual charm
I am a huge fan of Celia Rees. I have read all of her books, and I loved all of them, especially 'Witch Child' which was a truely compelling read. Naturally, I immediately bought the 'Wish House' as soon as it came out. Rees writes beautifully, and the 'Wish House' is no exception with her lucid style. However, I found that the story line did just not grab me! The main character Richard was likeable with his slight naivety and innocence, but I found that Clio, the girl who he meets at the Wish house, was unlikeable and predictable. I was waiting for a big revelation and for the secrets about the true nature of the eccentric family to be unravelled, but alas the revelation at the end was not shocking to me at all. I found myself predicting what would happen, a far cry for how absorbing I found 'Witch Child' to be with it's never-ending twists and turns. Nevertheless, she manages to capture the enchantment of Clio and her family that Richard was intoxicated by during the summer, and her vivid descriptions of the setting give it an air of magic. She sucesfully avoids the cliches often associated with the typical coming-of-age stories. On the whole, I found it to be lacking in the charm that her previous books have succeeded in.

dreams and wishes

We got this from one of those book clearance shops for a coupla quid on hols in Yorkshire this summer. Only just finished it now as I was ploughing thru the time travellers wife all summer! This is set back in the 1970's when a timid boy called Richard has a holiday romance with a weird hippy chick called clio. Soon he gets drawn into the familys loved up lifestyle although theres an edge of menace to their daily lives. You can really feel the hot summer and smell the joints being smoked. And its like the beginning and end of innocence, all wrapped up in the wild world of art. Not being funny but I think the sex could've been done better (bit rougher?)... they must be the first teens in history to get it off without any upset or aggro. And I can say that with confidence! Though there is a warning at the end about condom use, right! The story itself draws you well in, and I loved celia rees's other books, like witch child and its follow up. The wish house is like everything you could wish for in your own dream life, but wishes don't always bring happiness as Richard finds out.

Creepily absorbing!
This won't be the most comfortable read you'll ever read, but I don't think books necessarily should be. What they will do, at their best, is stir up thoughts, feelings, questions - and this book does exactly that. From the start, I was instantly drawn into the book's mysterious and strange world, feeling almost as innocent and inquiring as the main character, Richard, and ultimately sharing the shock and betrayal which awaits him. Highly recommended for all Celia Rees fans. Very unsettling, thought provoking, creepy and ace!