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''The Time of the Ghost'' is a supernatural English-language children's novel by Diana Wynne Jones, published by Macmillan in 1981. Set in the English countryside, it features a teenage ghost who is one of four sisters, and observes the family, unable to remember which one she is. She is from seven years in the future, in the aftermath of her "accident", so it is a kind of a time slip story, but she has no memories of those seven years. Greenwillow Books (William Morrow) published the first U.S. edition only in 1996.〔〔 . Retrieved 2012-09-05.〕 According to WorldCat, ''The Time of the Ghost'' is not among the twenty works by Jones that are most widely held in participating libraries.〔 ("Jones, Diana Wynne" ). WorldCat. Retrieved 2012-09-05.〕 ==Plot summary== The book begins with the words "There's been an accident! Something's wrong!" - and something is. There is a ghost. She does not know who she is, or how she died, or quite where she is. All she knows is that there has been a terrible accident. The as-yet unnamed heroine finds herself attracted to a large building, a boys' boarding school, which she finds to be strangely familiar. After a little detective work, the disembodied spirit concludes that she is Sally Melford, one of a quartet of eccentric sisters (Imogen, Cart, Fenella and Sally) who live at the school and are neglected by their overworked parents, both of whom teach at the school. Their father, only known as Himself, is the headmaster, and his wife, Phyllis, is the school nurse. Both of them are constantly busy with school business, and leave their daughters to fend for themselves. As the plot continues, evidence of time-travel begins to emerge. In the present day, the adult, university-age Sally is in a hospital, badly injured after her abusive boyfriend threw her from a speeding car. Some part of her has journeyed back seven years into the past, where, with the help of her sisters and their schoolboy friends, she must undo a rash bargain with the powerful and ancient goddess, Monigan. The Worship of Monigan is a game that the sisters made up, in which an old rag doll supposedly represents the goddess Monigan. Throughout the story, the sisters vary from treat the Worship of Monigan as a game to believing in it quite seriously. Sally also seems to be romantically involved with a student at the school, the enigmatic fifth-former Julian Addiman, who mocks at how the sisters seem to take the Worship of Monigan very seriously. After a deal of detective work, Sally (in her ghostly form) discovers the truth. The young Sally had dedicated herself to Monigan in a midnight ritual, with the help of Julian. Monigan had taken her up on the offer, and had agreed that Sally would be hers in seven years' time. The seven years are now up, and Monigan had attempted to call in the debt, in the form of the boyfriend (now revealed to be the same Julian Addiman) tossing her out of the car. However, Sally survived; with the help of her sisters and her childhood friends, she is determined to cheat Monigan, and take back her life. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Time of the Ghost」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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