History Literature / DialAGhost

''Dial-A-Ghost'' is a 1996 children's novel by Creator/EvaIbbotson. In a world filled with ghosts -both peaceful and mean ones- the Dial-a-Ghost agency works to find homes for various ghosts. They receive a request for vicious and angry ghosts from Fulton Snodde-Brittle, who secretly plans on frightening his third cousin Oliver Smith to death for the family estate. However, a mix-up of envelopes causes the Wilkinsons, a family of friendly ghosts, to be sent to Oliver instead, and they don't like what Fulton is up to when they find out.

* CuteGhostGirl: Adopta is a cute little Victorian girl who becomes a playmate and protector to Oliver.
** Although a bit older, Eric could count as a Cute Ghost Guy-- he's a dorky, good-hearted teenager who likes hanging out with Oliver and his friends and teaches them Boy Scout skills.

* EvilMakesYouMonstrous: The Shriekers have definitely decayed over the course of their undeath to look skeletal and bloodstained (Lady Sabrina has no nose and is losing her toes) while the Wilkinsons look mostly like they did when they were alive. At the end of the book, [[spoiler: Ghost!Fulton]] is also described as being much uglier dead than alive.

* HappilyAdopted: the agency ran by Miss Pringle, and Mrs Mannering is an adoption agency for ghosts. They try to find people who are willing to "adopt" and take in homeless ghosts:
--> ''For after all if people can adopt whales and trees in rain forests – if schoolchildren can adopt London buses and crocodiles in the zoo – why not ghosts? Only they would have to be proper adoptions, not just sending money. Ghosts after all are not whales or crocodiles; they can fit perfectly well into the right sort of house.''
** In a more traditional sense, the main characters, the ghostly Wilkinson family, has a HappilyAdopted daughter named Adopta... so-called because she's amnesiac and can't remember her real name. When the Wilkinsons found her, she had been asleep for a long time and was very drowsy and confused when they managed to wake her up. When the Wilkinsons said they would "adopt her" she decided that her name was "Adopta." Later in the book, it's revealed that her real name is Honoria and she's of noble birth, and her real parents are also ghosts, who went mad and evil with grief after she died young. Adopta isn't at all impressed with her birth parents, and though she reconciles with them at the end she insists she's still a Wilkinson.

* OldDarkHouse: Helton Hall is a very creepy old manor full of old weapons, gruesome and violent art, and [[TaxidermyIsCreepy taxidermied animals]]. It's even spookier for a ten-year-old boy completely on his own.
** While Freida claims "Of course a house as old as this has ghosts", it's actually ''not'' a HauntedHouse until the Snodde-Brittles try to find ghosts to haunt it. (Although there's a lake on the property that ''is'' haunted.)
* OldFlameFizzle: The Wilkinsons son has as a long term crush on his schoolmate Cynthia Harbottle even decades after dying. When she turns up as a ghost in the final chapter, she is old, plump, and selfish. Her casual littering is portrayed as the deal-breaker for young Eric.

* TangledFamilyTree: It is unclear how Colonel Mersham is related to Oliver, Frieda and Fulton aside from a comment that the Snodde-Brittles were "cousins of his mother." He doesn't make it clear ''which'' generation and which branch of Snodde-Brittles' he means, and Mersham isn't shown on the family tree at the beginning.
** The family tree seems to be showing only male lines of descent, with few wives included. [[WildMassGuessing The wife of one of the ill-fated heirs could have been a sister of Mersham's grandparents, making Fulton, Freida, and Oliver's father his cousins once or twice removed, and Oliver a generation farther removed. Mersham's ancestor could also be Oliver's great-great-aunt Frederica, a cousin of Frederica and her brothers, or a stepchild or illegitimate child of a Snodde-Brittle from the main branch of the family.]]

** Elmer, one of the most recently deceased Snodde-Brittles, also merely died in a simple car accident while his two brothers died stealing eggs from an endangered eagle nest and while trying to evict an old woman respectively.

** In a more traditional sense, the main characters, the ghostly Wilkinson family, has a HappilyAdopted reddaughter named Adopta... so-called because she's amnesiac and can't remember her real name. When the Wilkinsons found her, she had been asleep for a long time and was very drowsy and confused when they managed to wake her up. When the Wilkinsons said they would "adopt her" she decided that her name was "Adopta." Later in the book, it's revealed that her real name is Honoria and she's of noble birth, and her real parents are also ghosts, who went mad and evil with grief after she died young. Adopta isn't at all impressed with her birth parents, and though she reconciles with them at the end she insists she's still a Wilkinson.

** Oliver is the orphaned great-grandson of the estranged third son of Snodde-Brittle ancestor who suddenly inherits the family fortune when the last descendant of the second son died off. No one even remembered Oliver’s great-grandfather existed until someone checked an old family tree. Oliver’s existence comes as a shock to Fulton, a descendant of the fourth son who would have inherited if not for Oliver’s existence.
** Adopta turns out to be the daughter of the shrieker’s, who haven’t seen her since her original death.
* NooseNecktie: One of the past Snodde-Brittle’s was choked by his tie when he caught it in a washer while sexually harassing a maid.

* ParentsAsPeople: The Shriekers cared about their daughter, but were upset by her interfering with their social climbing and even after making peace with her as ghosts still have some trouble excepting her new carefree manner.

* TangledFamilyTree: It is unclear how Colonel Mersham is related to Oliver, Frieda and Fulton aside from a comment that the Snodde-Brittle’s were "cousins of his mother." He doesn't make it clear ''which'' generation and which branch of Snodde-Brittle's he means, and Mersham isn't shown on the family tree at the beginning.

* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: The narration mocks how idiotic it is of the Snodde-Brittle family’s lawyer and bank manager to assume that Fulton is offering to look after Oliver out of kindness when if not for Oliver’s existence, Fulton would be the lord of Helton Hall.

** The family tree seems to be showing only male lines of descent, with few wives included. [[WildMassGuessing The wife of one of the ill-fated heirs could have been a sister of Mersham’s grandparents, making Fulton, Freida, and Oliver's father his cousins once or twice removed, and Oliver a generation farther removed. Mersham could also be a descendant of Oliver's great-great-aunt Frederica, a cousin of Frederica and her brothers, or a stepchild or illegitimate child of a Snodde-Brittle from the main branch of the family.]]

‘’Dial-A-Ghost’’ is a 1996 children’s novel by Creator/EvaIbbotson. In a world filled with ghosts -both peaceful and mean ones- the Dial-a-Ghost agency works to find homes for various ghosts. They receive a request for vicious and angry ghosts from Fulton Snodde-Brittle, who secretly plans on frightening his third cousin Oliver Smith to death for the family estate. However, a mix-up of envelopes causes the Wilkinson’s, a family of friendly ghosts, to be sent to Oliver instead, and they don’t like what Fulton is up to when they find out.

* EvilMakesYouMonstrous: The Shriekers have definitely decayed over the course of their undeath to look skeletal and bloodstained (Lady Sabrina has no nose and is losing her toes) while the Wilkinsons look mostly like they did when they were alive. At the end of the book, [[Spoiler: Ghost!Fulton]] is also described as being much uglier dead than alive.

* EvilMakesYouMonstrous: The Shriekers have definitely decayed over the course of their undeath to look skeletal and bloodstained (Lady Sabrina has no nose and is losing her toes) while the Wilkinsons look mostly like they did when they were alive.
* FriendToAllLivingThings: Adopta, who ruined her parents party as a human due to anger over the animals they killed.

** The family tree seems to be showing only male lines of descent, with few wives included. [[WildMassGuessing The wife of one of the the ill-fated heirs could have been a sister of Mersham’s grandparents, making Fulton, Freida, and Oliver's father his cousins once or twice removed, and Oliver a generation farther removed. Mersham could also be a descendant of Oliver's great-great-aunt Frederica, a cousin of Frederica and her brothers, or a stepchild or illegitimate child of a Snodde-Brittle from the main branch of the family.]]

* HeelFaithTurn: Freida becomes a nun devoting her life to lenient things like mucking the stables after a harrowing run-in with the ghosts.

** The family tree seems to be showing only male lines of descent, with few wives included. [[WildMassGuessing The wife of one of the the ill-fated heirs could have been a sister of Mersham’s grandparents, making Fulton, Freida, and Oliver's father his cousins once or twice removed, and Oliver a generation farther removed.]]

** Clarence, one of the most recently deceased Snodde-Brittles, also merely died in a simple car accident while his two brothers died stealing eggs from an endangered eagle nest and while trying to evict an old woman respectively.

* OldFlameFizzle: The Wilkinson’s son has as a long term crush on his schoolmate Cynthia Harbottle even decades after dying. When she turns up as a ghost in the final chapter, she is old, plump, and selfish. Her casual littering is portrayed as the deal-breaker for young Eric.

* ParentsAsPeople: The Shrieker’s cared about their daughter, but were upset by her interfering with their social climbing and even after making peace with her as ghosts still have some trouble excepting her new carefree manner.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: On top of everything else nasty about him, Fulton sneers at hearing Oliver’s mother was French and thinks “Hmmmph, foreign blood!”

** The family tree seems to be showing only male lines of descent, with few wives included. [[WildMassGuessing The wife of one of the the ill-fated heirs could have been a sister of Mersham’s grandparents, making Fulton, Freida, and Oliver’s father his cousins once or twice removed, and Oliver a generation farther removed.]]

** One of the most recently deceased Snodde-Brittle's also merely died in a simple car accident while his two brothers died stealing eggs from an endangered eagle nest and while trying to evict an old woman respectively.

* WhiteSheep: Oliver's great-grandfather cut ties with the snooty and generally unpleasant Snodde-Brittle's over a feud when he decided to MarryForLove. One of the most recent deceased Snodde-Brittle's also merely died in a simple car accident while his two brothers died stealing eggs from an endangered eagle nest and while trying to evict an old woman respectively.

** The family tree seems to be showing only male lines of descent, with few wives included. [[WildMassGuessing The wife of one of the the ill-fated heirs could have been a sister of Mersham’s grandparents, making Fulton, Freida, and Oliver’s parents his cousins once or twice removed, and Oliver a generation farther removed.]]

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: On top of everything else nasty about him, Fulton sneers at hearing Oliver’s mother was French and thinks “Hmmm, foreign blood!”

* CuteGhostGirl: Adopta is a cute Victorian little girl who becomes a playmate and protector to Oliver.

* OurGhostsAreDifferent: Some people can see them and some people can’t, they are accepted as real to the extent that a ghost adoption agency and operate as a business, and there is no way of knowing if someone will become a ghost when they die or not.

‘’Dial-A-Ghost’’ is a 1996 children’s novel by Creator/EvaIbbotson. In a world filled with ghosts -both peaceful and mean ones- the Dial-a-Ghost agency works to find homes for various ghosts. They receive a request for vicious and angry ghosts from Fulton Snodde-Brittle, who secretly plans on frightening his third cousin Oliver Smith to death to the family estate. However, a mix-up of envelopes causes the Wilkinson’s, a family of friendly ghosts, to be sent to Oliver instead, and they don’t like what Fulton is up to when they find out.

* HappilyAdopted: the agency ran by Miss Pringle, and Mrs Mannering is an adoption agency for ghosts. They try to find people who are willing to "adopt" and take in homeless ghosts: —> For after all if people can adopt whales and trees in rain forests – if schoolchildren can adopt London buses and crocodiles in the zoo – why not ghosts? Only they would have to be proper adoptions, not just sending money. Ghosts after all are not whales or crocodiles; they can fit perfectly well into the right sort of house.

** Adopta turns out to bt the daughter of the shrieker’s, who haven’t seen her since her original death.

* TangledFamilyTree: It is unclear how Colonel Mersham is related to Oliver,Frieda and Fulton aside from a comment that the Snodde-Brittle’s were “cousins of his mother.” He doesn't make it clear ''which'' generation and which branch of Snodde-Brittle's he mans, and Mersham isn't shown on the family tree at the beginning.
* WhiteSheep: Oliver’s great-grandfather cut ties with the snooty and generally unpleasant Snodde-Brittle’s over a feud when he decided to MarryForLove. One of the most recent deceased Snodde-Brittle’s also merely died in a simple car accident while his two brothers died stealing eggs from an endangered eagle nest and while trying to evict an old woman respectively.