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The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall Hardcover – August 25, 2015

by Katie Alender (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 541 ratings
See all formats and editions
In this asylum, your mind plays tricks on you all the time...

Delia's new house isn't just a house. Long ago, it was the Piven Institute for the Care and Correction of Troubled Females -- an insane asylum nicknamed "Hysteria Hall." However, many of the inmates were not insane, just defiant and strong willed. Kind of like Delia herself.But the house still wants to keep "troubled" girls locked away. So, in the most horrifying way, Delia becomes trapped. And that's when she learns that the house is also haunted.Ghost girls wander the hallways in their old-fashioned nightgowns. A handsome ghost boy named Theo roams the grounds. Delia learns that all the spirits are unsettled and full of dark secrets. The house, too, harbors shocking truths within its walls -- truths that only Delia can uncover, and that may set her free. And she'll need to act quickly -- before the house's power overtakes everything she loves.Katie Alender brings heart-pounding suspense, gorgeous writing, and a feminist twist to this tale of memories and madness.
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Previous page
  1. Reading age
    11 - 13 years, from customers
  2. Print length
    336 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Grade level
    7 - 9
  5. Lexile measure
    HL690L
  6. Dimensions
    6 x 1 x 8.5 inches
  7. Publisher
    Point
  8. Publication date
    August 25, 2015
  9. ISBN-10
    0545639999
  10. ISBN-13
    978-0545639996
  11. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
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Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up—When her Great Aunt Cordelia Pevin dies, "little namesake" Delia inherits her home, which was once the Piven Institute for the Care and Correction of Troubled Females. The family heads there once school is out to get the place ready to sell, but Hysteria Hall (as it was nicknamed) has other ideas. And, Delia can't help but think that her parents might actually want her there because of her failed attempt to run off during Spring Break. Very quickly, the teen senses something is dreadfully wrong with the house, but can she escape in time to save her family? The protagonist's path is fraught with challenges and her eventual understanding and acceptance is hard-won. Alender has created a chilling tale of forgotten tragedies and family secrets. Strong female characters anchor the story and its suspenseful tone is carried throughout. The author adeptly imbues the atmosphere with hints that something sinister is lurking just beneath the surface. VERDICT A great choice for fans of horror or suspense novels.—Elaine Baran Black, Georgia Public Library Service, Atlanta

Review

Praise for The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall:* “Alender creates a fascinating, eerie world… A really scary and original ghost story.” – Kirkus Reviews, starred review“A chilling tale of forgotten tragedies and family secrets. Strong female characters anchor the story.” – School Library JournalPraise for Famous Last Words"Katie Alender spins a killer ghost story that will haunt your heart." -- Margaret Stohl, #1 NYT bestselling co-author of Beautiful Creatures"A compelling supernatural thriller." -- Kirkus ReviewsPraise for Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer"All the flavor of a macaron, bound by a ganache of sweet, supernatural grit." -- Kirkus Reviews "A story that mixes slice-of-life teen drama with supernatural menace, infused with the sights, sounds, and tastes of a Paris that comes to life in the process." -- Publishers Weekly

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Point (August 25, 2015)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0545639999
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0545639996
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 11 - 13 years, from customers
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ HL690L
  • Grade level ‏ : ‎ 7 - 9
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 541 ratings

About the author

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Katie Alender

Katie Alender

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Katie Alender is the author of the Bad Girls Don’t Die series from Disney-Hyperion. She is a graduate of the Florida State University Film School and lives in Los Angeles. When she’s not writing novels, she can usually be found in her sewing room, making things for her friends or her dog (or her friends’ dogs). She enjoys reading, eating delicious high-calorie foods, and hanging out with her husband and her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Winston.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
541 global ratings
Great Spooky Read! 👻👻👻
5 Stars
Great Spooky Read! 👻👻👻
Great Spooky Read!👻🎃👻The storyline was very good!The theme and setting was well put together. The characters was well put together in the story.This story will have in a rollercoaster with all the spooky and secrets. Was so well put in the story.Everything all in one book. This book was short and fast read.It was just perfect!I highly recommend everybody get this and read it.Katie Alender’s THE DEAD GIRLS OF HYSTERIA HALL is an immensely entertaining one-sit read that offers a captivating mystery, a deliciously creepy setting, and several rather interesting ghostly residents to keep readers hooked. And with a heroine whose unavoidably tragic fate is known from the start, it promises to be a story that is both immeasurably sad and incredibly spooky.Delia never wanted to spend the summer cleaning out the home she inherited from her aunt. But when she arrived and discovered it was not just a home, but a former institute for girls that had been dubbed Hysteria Hall, she was just a tiny bit curious about the place her aunt called home. That is until she felt as if she was being watched, followed, chased. Until she thought Hysteria Hall might be haunted.However, with both parents dead set on staying until the job was done, leaving right away wouldn’t be option. And once the malevolent force residing in the institute set its sights on Delia, she wouldn’t be leaving at all. Not alive, anyway.Author Katie Alender infused her chilling and eerie ghost story with humor and heart. She touched upon issues that were very real and relevant and horrifying and heartbreaking at one point in our country’s history. She gave readers a heroine who was headstrong, a touch selfish, not always easy to like, but sympathetic and ultimately someone to root for. She added in the possibility of romance. And she created a mystery with a few twists and turns and surprises. All of which make for a positively gripping read.With a number of mysterious disappearances and deaths, an asylum with a dark and hidden past, an intriguing array of ghosts with secrets of their own, and its newest trapped resident anxious to uncover what her aunt had been trying to tell her and desperate to find a way to escape, THE DEAD GIRLS OF HYSTERIA HALL is guaranteed to be a suspenseful and electrifying and unputdownable page-turner that may generate a few smiles as well as a few tears. I highly recommend it. Great Halloween read!What a great read! This had me hooked from the beginning. What a Rollercoaster! The sitting, theme, and the Characters had me pulled so in. Everything was well put together and it was just perfect. This novel would have you guess and thinking all the way to the end. What a great thrill and suspense. I love a great suspense that would have me think and guessing. This novel did just that to me. To the point that am wrong. When the ending comes am on shock. I wouldn't of never believe or guess. Like OMG!Highly recommend everybody get this book and read it. Its so good!Can't wait for his next book.
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Top reviews from the United States

Broadway
5.0 out of 5 stars Beyond Loved!!!
Reviewed in the United States on October 13, 2023
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A gripping sad lovely heart inspiring tale. It’s amazing kept me reading I barely put the book down unless I absolutely needed to!
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J
5.0 out of 5 stars Well-written, fast-paced story (No spoilers)
Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2015
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Katie Alender's The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall was an engaging and enjoyable novel.

The story begins with finding out that Delia, the protagonist, has just inherited a "house" from her great Aunt Cordelia. Delia and her family are headed there to assess the property and prepare it to sell. Their plans are soon thwarted as they learn something/someone else has its own agenda.

While it is a ghost story, ultimately this is about a girl who learns the importance of family. At least that's what I took from it. It certainly has some creepy moments and if you're looking for something haunting, you'll find it in here.

The pacing is great throughout. I finished reading this in just a few days because there weren't any dead spots that drained my interest. The characters are rich and developed. Delia is an active protagonist, driving the plot forward throughout the story.
3 people found this helpful
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Angela's Library
4.0 out of 5 stars Deliciously creepy atmosphere
Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2015
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Even though I’m a gigantic wimp, I’ve always had a fascination with old abandoned buildings. There’s something mournful and nostalgic about the faded glory of a deserted old hotel or once-stately mansion, especially when the house holds reminders of the lives previously lived there: dishes still set on a dining room table, toys scattered on a nursery floor, paperwork strewn across a desk in a study. I love the weighty sense of history and anticipation, as if the long-dead inhabitants could stroll through the parlor at any moment.

It’s no surprise, then, that The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall is right up my alley, as the action takes place in the king of all abandoned buildings: an old mental hospital.

Delia Piven and her family arrive at The Piven Institute for the Care and Correction of Troubled Females after Delia inherits the property from her great-great-aunt. It doesn’t take long for Delia to get the sense that the old sanatorium isn’t just eerie – it’s haunted. This suspicion is confirmed when a dark force in the house murders Delia and she returns as a ghost, joining a bevy of other spirits trapped in the asylum.

What I Liked:

The Perspective: I wasn’t expecting The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall to be written from a ghost’s point of view, but this tactic worked quite well. I was engrossed by Delia’s struggle to cope with the bitterness and grief of losing her life and all the people in it, since they can no longer see, hear, or even sense her. Delia goes from having an entire world at her fingertips to being trapped within the confines of the Piven Institute, as well as by the limits of her ghostly abilities.

Speaking of these abilities, I really enjoyed the insider look at the ghost experience. Delia must learn the trick of walking through walls and manifesting enough to grasp onto objects. She also learns that ghosts aren’t invulnerable and can be disfigured and torn apart by other spirits and phantoms, which means Delia must exercise caution even in death. Another interesting tidbit is that Delia experiences weird time slips. There’s one creepy yet poignant scene in the book where Delia sits gazing forlornly out the window while turning the crank of a music box. She turns and turns and turns the crank, losing herself in the melody, and when a noise finally rouses her from her trance she finds two and a half years have passed.

The Atmosphere: The Piven Institute is exactly the kind of creepy place that gets me wriggling with excitement. I found myself both terrified by the asylum and wishing I could explore it. In broad daylight, that is. With an army of priests and exorcists by my side.

All the spooky accoutrements are accounted for: padded rooms, patient wards with worn leather restraints on the beds, a therapy room furnished with an electroshock chair, and a processing hall still littered with the suitcases and former belongings of the girls who checked in and never checked out. There are desperate messages scratched into the floorboards, eerie melodies played by a ghostly music box, and a multitude of spirits lurking in the rooms where they died, often in terrible ways.

The Piven Sisters: Delia’s attitude, spunk, and modern turns of phrase are a refreshing and amusing contrast to the dark parts of this book. She talks to the living people who occasionally wander into the sanatorium, even though they can’t hear her. For example, there’s a point when one character is about to go down into the super-scary basement, and Delia chides, “Oh, come on[…]. Don’t go down there! Have you never seen a horror movie?”

Another great character is Janie, Delia’s little sister. She starts the novel as a pesky pre-teen, but by the end she’s grown into a strong, brave young woman who I really admired.

What I Didn’t Like:

All Characters Besides Delia and Janie: I was disappointed by how flat and one-dimensional many of the characters are in The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall, and I was even more disappointed that Alender didn’t introduce a wider assortment of ghosts. I was rabid with curiosity about the spirits with whom Delia shared the asylum: Who were they? What did they look like? How did they die? I got a little of this, but not nearly enough. It was a big missed opportunity on Alender’s part.

The Plot: I like the pieces that make up this novel but think the book could have used a stronger center for those pieces to revolve around. The premise is that there’s some dark power at work in the house, and until Delia uncovers and defeats this power, it’s going to keep preying on troubled girls. There doesn’t seem to be much of a plot arc, though. A lot of the book involves Delia just hanging around being ghostly and biding her time until she’s forced into action. Even the ending, where the source of the dark power is revealed, felt a little anticlimactic.

Despite my criticisms, I had a good time reading The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall. The setting alone is worth giving this book a go, and Janie and Delia’s characters simply add to the story. I recommend it to anyone looking for a bit of a scare this Halloween.

This review can also be found on my blog, http://AngelasLibrary.com.
4 people found this helpful
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Daniel S.
5.0 out of 5 stars Omg! This is my new fav book
Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2019
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This was such of an intresting book! I wan overwhelmed with excitement fear and sadness while reading this book. This book is so worth it! In my opinion, this is a good buy. I would also say that this book is mostly young adult so, be warned. If your looking for books with a chill, shock, and shutter; this is the book for you. In my eyes, this is a book for 13-14 years. (Being 13 myself). Thank you for reading! ……………………………What are you still doing down here!?!: Go buy this book!
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Casandra Roberts
5.0 out of 5 stars Kept my interest
Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2023
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This book kept my interest quit well and it had a story line that I'd haven't ever read (or watched) before. Some twists and what I thought was a good ending.
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Colleen Marie Zukowski
3.0 out of 5 stars If you are looking for a scary horror book, this is not it.
Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2015
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It has been a while since I’ve read a good haunted house horror book so I was excited for The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall. Delia inherits a house with a troubled past and while visiting the house it kills her, trapping her ghost on the property. She soon finds that she is not alone, she is trapped with the ghosts of other girls who died in the house when it served as an asylum for women. As Delia struggles to come to terms with life as a ghost she also searches for the underlying evil in the house in the hopes of destroying it, saving her sister, and freeing the souls of the trapped ghosts.
My first thought about this book was that while it has its creepy elements I didn’t think it qualified as horror but as just young adult paranormal. I’m not sure if this is because of the background I have in reading horror or if the book really just wasn’t scary. Another issue I had was in the beginning of the book I found myself bothered by the writing style because it was so adolescent; I found it very much like reading the diary of a teenager. When I took a moment to think, however, I realized that since the story is being told from the point of view of a young teenager it would make sense to be written in such a way.
The premise of the book was reminiscent of many stories that already exist. I was hoping for more twists or something to separate it from the other haunted house stories that are out there but nothing about it really stood out to me. Nonetheless, the book did hold my interest and I found it intriguing enough for me to want to keep reading. Alender did a great job of describing the house in such a way that she almost gave a life to it. The main character, Delia, is someone that you care for and you grow to sympathize with her and the other ghosts in the book as well, as you learn their tragic stories. I think one of the most interesting aspects of the story is that ghosts are portrayed in a manner that I don’t think I have ever seen done before and I found it very unique and compelling. It makes the reader think of ghosts in a new way and you are able to relate to them more easily.
One thing I noticed early on in this book is how it makes you think. It took me back to when I was a teenager and how I behaved towards my family at times and I could not help but wonder what would have happened if the chance for me to show them how much I cared for them and loved them had been taken away. What Delia and her family go through is incredibly emotional and if you put yourself in Delia’s shoes it is heartbreaking to think “what if this happened to me?” Every ghost has their own emotional story and at times the book can be quite somber and poignant, in a thought-provoking but not depressing way.

For the majority of the time that I was reading the book I found it to be entertaining and was compelled to keep reading it. However its inability to scare me and the last few chapters of the book were its main downfall to me. It seemed like the author did not want to end the story quite yet so she kept adding in more scenarios to keep it going and the story became slightly tiresome at times. In regards to the ending, I felt like there should have been more to it from how everything about the evil in the house had been built up and when all was said and done I found myself a little disappointed.
If you are looking for a scary horror book to read this would not be the book for you. It is an entertaining young adult paranormal book but, aside from the portrayal of ghosts, it is not really a new concept in haunted house stories. I would recommend The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall more for someone who is not a huge fan of horror but is looking for a mild taste of it.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Dawn
5.0 out of 5 stars So far, a good read
Reviewed in Canada on February 6, 2021
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Bought for my kid, who forgot hard copy at home and needed for class. Started reading myself when I get the time. So far, a good read
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Myreadbooks
5.0 out of 5 stars I really like this book
Reviewed in France on September 23, 2021
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Since the time I wanted to read this book, I did.

We find Delia who does not live in a simple house but in an old asylum: The Piven Institute where there were women with problems, in short an institute where they made care and corrections for these women. Nicknamed: "Hysteria Hall". These famous women were not crazy at all, far from there, they were defiant and full of will, like Delia.

Except that Delia is going to learn that her house is haunted by the ghosts of this institute who walk the corridors in period costume. A handsome guy named Theo, a ghost wanders around her house. She will discover that the spirits are all troubled and have many secrets. Delia will have to learn more about what happened in this institute if she wants to get out of it before she gets trapped.

A book read in one sitting, I was so hooked on the story that it was gripping, captivating, addictive, full of intrigue, suspense and twists and turns with very engaging characters. I love the author's writing, which makes me want to read all her books.
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Geeta Gokul
5.0 out of 5 stars Holds you on
Reviewed in India on August 12, 2020
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You won't put the book down till you read it till the end... Will get you goosebumps when really get itno the story... Loved it❤
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Vicky Torres
5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 5, 2018
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I couldn't put it down. I gripped from the first page and my imagination was lit by the wonderful writing. I loved the different take on a ghost story. The spooky setting was spectacular. If you like old buildings with secrets, ghosts, a heroine and an asylum then you will love this book.
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JD Parent
4.0 out of 5 stars A good teen / YA ghost story.
Reviewed in Canada on June 22, 2020
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This book really captures the essence of being a teenager with Delia. The other girls / former patients were also well done with their own quirky personalities and tragic pasts. Each of them are easy to sympathize with throughout the book, making them realistic and relatable.
Now let's talk about Hysteria Hall itself. While the name hints a whole bunch of craziness inside the source of the house's evil power turns out to be something more sinister than a few old patients hanging around. The house even seems to have some tricks of it's own to terrorize Delia and her family.
The plot was interesting, leaving me wanting to keep reading. Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to teens who enjoy haunted house / asylum stories.
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