Whispers from the Dead
Sarah Darnell almost drowned in a lake when some she became tangled in some weeds. After the near death experience,
Sarah is followed by a spirit and seems to live in two different worlds. After her friends find out about the spirit
figure, they seem distant and unsure of Sarah as a friend. So when Sarah's family moves from Missouri to Houston, Sarah
is relieved at her chance to begin again.
In Houston, Sarah's contact with the spririt world does not disappear. Sarah hears voices and senses a strange
presence in the new house her family has bought, and she then unravels a web of mysteries involving the house, herself, and
a murder that took place two years before.
Joan Lowery Nixon creates such a realistic mystery in Whispers from the Dead. Nixon does this primarily
through Sarah Darnell, the young female protagonist. Not only is Sarah realistic to readers, but she is likeable.
The story is narrated in her voice so her believeability as a character is crucial to the novel.
Sarah begins the novel by addressing the concern most readers will have - that Sarah's story is too hard to believe.
"Because the things that happened to me were so strange, I know that some people will find them hard to believe.....There
will be more questions, and I'll have to repeat the answers overa n over - even to myself- so I've bought a thick, yellow,
lined tablet, and I'm going to write down everything that took place, beginning with the day I died." Sarah tells her
story in an honest and sincere voice that hooks readers instantly.
Nixon's story is packed with action. Nixon uses a prologue to bring the reader up to speed with Sarah's story:
her near-death drowning, sensing a spirit presence around her, the rejection of her friends and the move to Houston.
The novel then switches gears with Chapter One, the beginning of Sarah's life in Houston. This chapter begins with Sarah
and her family seeing their new house (for the first time for Sarah and her mother); immediately Sarah begins to sense that
something with the house is not right. Gradually and with subtle details, Lowery packs suspense into scenes and then
carries it through to the climax of her novel.
Lowery also adds interest through other characters and relationships. Sarah's new friend in Houston is Dee Dee,
a stereotypical girl friend who likes to gab but does seem to care about Sarah. There is also the relationship
between Sarah and her parents, particularly her mother, that will be familiar to readers, as Mrs. Darnell struggles between
motherly love and allowing Sarah more freedom.
Larson says, "Most readers will easily anticipate the outcome, but knowing what is about to happen only intensifies the
suspense, and Sarah's first-person narration adds to the intimacy of the danger and tension" (Larson 1989).
Nixon, Joan Lowery. Whispers from the Dead. New York: Delacourte Press, 1989.
