"The Mystery of Raspberry Hill" by Eva Frantz is an exceptional middle-grade ghost story that seamlessly combines historical ambiance, a compelling mystery, and a brave young heroine. Set against the backdrop of a spooky sanatorium in the 1920s, this book delivers a chilling and atmospheric reading experience that will captivate young readers and adults alike.

At its heart, the story revolves around Stina, a twelve-year-old girl who, despite her grim prognosis, finds herself at Raspberry Hill Sanatorium. From the moment she arrives, the author masterfully creates an eerie and foreboding atmosphere that envelops readers. The description of the sanatorium as a magnificent castle hidden in the forest is both enchanting and unsettling, setting the stage for a tale filled with secrets.

Eva Frantz excels at building suspense and intrigue throughout the narrative. As Stina delves into the labyrinthine corridors of Raspberry Hill, the reader is drawn deeper into the mystery surrounding the old East Wing's fire, her mother's silence, and the nurses' fearful demeanor. The pacing is impeccable, keeping readers on the edge of their seats as they follow Stina's relentless quest for answers.

Stina is a remarkable protagonist who is both relatable and admirable. Her determination to uncover the truth, even in the face of danger, makes her a character readers will root for from the very beginning. Her courage and resourcefulness are inspiring, making her a role model for young readers.

The historical setting of the 1920s adds depth and authenticity to the story. Eva Frantz skillfully incorporates details of the time period, from the references to the motor car to the societal expectations of the era, enriching the reading experience and making the world of Raspberry Hill feel all the more real.

One of the novel's strengths is its ability to tackle complex themes such as illness, mortality, and the resilience of the human spirit in a way that is accessible and thought-provoking for young readers. It encourages them to contemplate the mysteries of life and death while maintaining a sense of wonder and curiosity.

"The Mystery of Raspberry Hill" is a literary gem in the middle-grade genre. Eva Frantz's writing is evocative and immersive, making it easy for readers to lose themselves in the story's eerie and suspenseful atmosphere. As the mystery unfolds, it keeps readers guessing until the very end, making it a page-turner that will leave them eager for more.

In conclusion, "The Mystery of Raspberry Hill" is a stellar addition to the world of middle-grade literature. Eva Frantz has crafted a haunting and enchanting tale that combines historical authenticity, a spine-tingling mystery, and a resilient young heroine. This book is a must-read for anyone seeking a captivating and chilling ghost story that will linger in their imagination long after the final page is turned.

The Mystery of Raspberry Hill follows a young girl in the early 20th century as she goes to a sanctuary to help heal from TB. While there, she learns of a fire to took out a while wing and many people died. She also meets a young boy and things start to go downhill. She has to save herself to get back home to her loving family.

I really liked this book! I loved our main character. She was very smart and wise and loved her family a lot. While she was poor and looked down on a lot, she was still very smart and had good manners. She has been through a lot at her young age but she still was very strong and loving. I think the mystery and twists were great. Some of them were expected but it is a children’s book so I think kids might not guess them. The ghost parts were also creepy but not too much for children.

Thanks so much to netgalley and Pushkin press for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

The Mystery of Raspberry Hill is a short, fast paced ghost story. It’s right in the vein of Mary Downing Hahn or India Hill Brown’s books. Stina is a fairly young, innocent girl who loves her family and learning, but has tuberculosis. From the beginning of the book, she has resigned herself to death due to her condition, but her doctor arranges for her to be sent to Raspberry Hill Sanatorium where they hope the fresh country air will make her better. However, nothing there is as it seems and with some otherworldly help, Stina learns the dark secrets of the place.

Stina is the first person narrator of the book and her voice is really young. I think the appropriate grade level would be 4-6. At 160 pages it’s a really fast read. It’s a great translation and I loved the Finland setting and names. I don't read about many book set in anything but England during this time period so it was a welcome change.

The book talks a lot about death and there are some murders (like a lot of ghost books) but I don’t think there is anything truly scary about the book. There is a happy ending and everything is explained. It’s not like Dan Poblocki’s books. The evil is human pretty easily thwarted. I’d say this is more mystery than horror, but it probably depends on how sensitive the reader is. I love mystery type ghost stories so I enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pushkin Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a well-written mystery ghost story. It’s suspenseful and spooky without being scary and deals with tough topics like illness and death in a serious but gentle tone. It’s the perfect read for a middle grade child who doesn’t shy away when things get a little scary. The story portrays a loving and healthy family relationship through the main character. She is a likeable, courageous little girl who you really end up rooting for throughout the book. The characters are well-rounded and the mystery isn’t seen right away, with hooks and plot twists happening throughout.

All in all, a perfect read for a kid looking for a Halloween treat or for parents to read to their kids before bed.

This was a quick, spooky, twisty middle grade that managed to feel refreshing AND like a classic children's ghost story at the same time. It follows Stina, a well-behaved (but dreadfully poor) girl who is admitted to Raspberry Hill in hopes of receiving treatment for her tuberculosis. However, things quickly start to become strange: there's a mysterious boy, witches in the wood, suspicious nuns, and whispers of a terrible fire that burned down the East Wing.

Although there are no genuine frights (this book is more eerie and atmospheric than horror), I did enjoy the central mystery and light commentary on class & autonomy. The bite-sized 16o pages should appeal to reluctant readers, and all fans of creaky buildings--and ghosts.

I liked this very suspenseful mystery/thriller. I would have written it about an older child and classified it as YA. I think the subject matter of hospitals and doctors would be too intense for a middle grade child of 8-10 years old. Children tend to have fear of hospitals and doctors naturally if they are separated from family so this might create a problem if a child has to be hospitalized. If the book was labeled for older middle grade maybe that would be more acceptable.

I found it to be a very well-written and scary story.

Enchanting and captivating. From the time this story takes place to the place it's set, the atmosphere is spooky all around which I loved. This had a lot of suspense, mystery, and was downright chilling. Excellent read.

The Mystery at Raspberry Hill is a spooky and very dark tale about Stina, a twelve-year-old girl, suffering from tuberculosis. It's set in a sanatorium called Raspberry Hill, deep in the forests of Finland, just after WWI. From the opening sentence:
My name is Stina and I'm probably going to die soon.
I was drawn into this extraordinary tale of mystery, suspense, ghosts and spine-tingling horrors. There are parts of this story that are very dark and probably would be a little too unnerving for younger readers. However, for older readers, I think this is a story that will captivate and grip the reader, eager to turn the next page. I had originally set out to read two chapters and then more the following day. That didn't happen. Instead, I read the whole book - I couldn't put it down!

"The Mystery of Raspberry Hill" by Eva Frantz is a mystery for young readers. It is set after World War 2 in Finland where young Stina has contracted tuberculosis. At that time, the odds of surviving tuberculosis was not good.

Stina has a loving mother and five siblings. Her father died in the war so she's not unfamiliar with death. With her illness, Stina is prepared to die. Into these circumstances comes an offer for her to get treatment at a sanatorium called "Raspberry Hill." Her doctor knows the doctor who runs the place as he is an old friend. Her mother doesn't want to send her away to Raspberry Hill, but eventually, she allows it and Stina is off in a fancy car to the place who might give her a chance to get better.

The story is told in first person from Stina who is about 12 years old. Given what she has already lived through (loss of her father and living with a possible terminal illness), her narrative perspective of wavering between being old for her years and yet young too makes a certain sense, even if it can be a little confusing at times. That said, she is considered to be bright and intelligent.

The plot is simple for young readers to follow. The author doesn't over-complicate the story telling or the mystery. That makes for smooth reading as Stina encounters Ruben, a young boy who seems rather cheeky, then another young girl named Esmeralda whose health problem doesn't fit for the sanatorium, and then there is an old woman who appears while Stina is out on her walks.

When Stina's health starts to get worse just when she seemed to be doing better, she questions and wonders what is going on and realizes that there may be more going on. She also finds that she is not ready to die either.

The tension is good. The storytelling is appropriate for the target audience. I did find Stina a bit passive as a main character but she does become more active. That said, the ending is a bit too neat and tidy in a way that was a little off-putting. The ending is really where I can't quite give it the 4th star. I liked the story overall but some of the details at the end made me side-eye it. As such, my rating is a 3-star.

This exciting middle grade mystery will appeal to young readers who like a lot of drama and a little bit of ghostly activity in their stories.. It is dark, to be sure, but experienced readers who like scary stories will appreciate the spooky nature of the sanatorium and the danger in which Stina finds herself. The ghostly element is actually pretty tame. However, children who are sensitive to scary stories involving humans (not ghosts) should avoid this. Foreshadowing adult horror, here the scariest monster is flesh and blood, not supernatural. There are many potential triggers here: abandonment, confinement, deceitful adults, and chronic illness, all of which the author conveys with a smooth delivery of story. The main character, Stina, is a very adult-like child similar in ways to Dickens’ child characters who were born into poverty and lived in unimaginable conditions. Stina, while a “poor child,” is also a loved child from a solid family, which is the red thread throughout the story. I just knew her family would come through.

Recommended.

A fantastic spooky and chilling middle grade read that I read in one sitting. It is the perfect blend of scares and mystery for the age range.
A fantastic book

the plot and the writing was good. the twists kept me hooked to the story. I really liked this book, and somehow ended up feeling connected to the characters, which is always a bad decision in a mystery novel lol.

The plot seems very familiar somehow, although I've never read this book before. I wonder what it reminds me of... Oh, well.

Stina is a little girl who's sick with consumption. She knows she'll die soon, but that's alright; she'd made peace with the thought, even if she gets to go to a sanatorium where there's hope for a cure. But the sanatorium is nearly empty of little children like her, so she doesn't have much to do all day except sit and read her brother's "Robinson Crusoe" while waiting to see how her condition evolves. Luckily, at night a little boy sneaks in to keep her company and show her around the place.

You can tell something's creepy while reading this as an adult because of the way things are phrased - the doctor in charge of her *seems* nice to Stina, but seems pretty willing to experiment (shadily) to us, and it doesn't help that he tells her she might still die. But there's something creepy for children, too, when an old woman asks Stina if she's rich or poor, then warns her that poor children tend to die a lot at the sanatorium.

There's a ghost, too - a very straightforward and helpful one, and we never doubt its veracity.

But what I really liked about "The Mystery of Raspberry Hill" wasn't the mystery in itself, but the atmosphere, as well as Stina's voice. You really feel that a child is telling you the story in all its gruesome detail, perhaps missing some of the concepts and details an adult would know, but understand all too well what's happening around her. It's a dark story, and very well told.

I really enjoyed reading this middle grade spooky book! It was the perfect fall read and it kept me entertained and intrigued the entire way through. The ending had me tearing me, and was a super cute way to end the book.

This was a weird one, and not in a great way.

Young Stina is a poor girl with tuberculosis in the 1920s who has been offered a chance to stay at an expensive sanatorium and be treated by a world class doctor in an attempt to cure her with a new treatment he's developed. However, everything is not as it seems and the mysterious fire that burned down a wing and may or may not have killed some people is just the beginning.

So, in the first half of this book, nothing happens. I mean that so literally that about 45% of the way in, the main character herself comments on the fact that nothing has happened yet. There is no reason at all for nearly the whole first half of the book. It's entirely a little girl's inner monologue about how bored she is and how so super ready to die she is. Yeah.

At about 50% we actually learn what the central mystery is here, then at about 60% the action actually starts, lasts until about 80% and then it's over. Things take a weird turn at some point as well and I'm not quite sure how to describe it except to tell you to think organ harvesting plot, as told by a twelve year old..

I'm confused about the age group this was written for. The writing is extremely juvenile, leading me to believe it's aimed at ~8-11 year olds, but some of the content was pretty mature, what with people being murdered and kids getting injected with paralytics against their will. So that was confusing.

Some things were done right. There were twists with a couple characters that would've blown my 10 year old mind. The action, once we got it, was great. Stina was a unique character who showed growth, even if it was super abrupt. But none of it was enough to save this boring, boring, boring, boring, suddenly exciting! and then boring again book.

I try to be nice when rating middle grade since, as a 33 year old woman, I am clearly not the target audience, but based on my dashed hopes for a spooky, paranormal, old-timey sanatorium story, I can't give this one higher than a middle of the road rating.

The Mystery of Raspberry Hill by Eva Fratz has been translated from Swedish to English by A A Prime for Pushkin to share children's tales from different languages.

This book is meant to be for middle school children. I feel it would be more suited to slightly older kids. The topics in it are maybe a little too mature for 8- 12 year olds.

I really enjoyed this book. It was one I didn't want to put down. Stina the main character was very likable. Shes taken from her home to a sanitarium to help cure her consumption. The book follows her time there and her thoughts and feelings about being near to death as such a young age (12). The tale leaves you guessing about the mystery all the way through.

Thanks to Netgalley and Pushkin for the ARC Copy. This review is my own opinion.

I enjoyed this story, but agree with other reviews that it seems a little heavy for middle grade.

Setting aside the audience, I found the story got significantly more compelling at halfway and I flew through the rest. The language was a little “off” in parts, due to translation, I’m sure.

Overall, I’d recommend this book to someone looking for a quick, spooky read!

Stina knows she’s not going to live a long life. At only 12 she has consumption wreaking havoc in her lungs. One of six children in a poorThe Mystery of Raspberry Hill Book Review Cover family, it is deemed to be a godsend to be part of a special medical trial at Raspberry Hill Sanitorium. A doctor named Hagman wants to learn more about clean air’s effects on young consumptive lungs, and Stina is his prize patient.

Raspberry Hill certainly has clean, crisp air, far from Stina’s town of Sjömansgatan in Denmark. Like a castle it sits on a hill overlooking a gleaming lake and an oak lined avenue to its doors.

Inside is mostly empty with only a handful of nursing staff and doctors, Stina quickly choosing her favourites. She’s grateful to have this chance of getting well, and knows it will be a blessing to her mother with her gone. With five more siblings, her home is a very busy household.

She does miss her brothers and sisters, their noise and chatter and dreams of the future, because most of her time is spent alone in her dormitory surrounded by empty beds. Will more children arrive soon?

When she wakes to find a young boy reading her beloved copy of Robinson Crusoe she is a little cross at first, but quickly relieved to have someone to talk to. This begins her friendship with Ruben Wiik, a veteran of Raspberry Hill. They have adventures together, inside and out of the Sanitorium, and Stina learns much about it.

There was once a terrible fire, and an entire wing of the hospital is out of bounds. But what happened there and why does one of the doctors still have a key?

Meeting others in the grounds, one Stina is almost positive is a witch, she learns even more and begins to unravel The Mystery of Raspberry Hill.

If only Ruben had her help before…


A young tween novel translated from Swedish to English by AA Prime, The Mystery of Raspberry Hill won the prestigious Runeberg Junior Prize in Finland.

Set in Finland in the 1920’s, this story has a spooky, gothic vibe inside a partially used sanitorium. At first, Stina doesn’t find any other children, just wealthy ladies wanting to rest in the fresh air and beautiful scenery. Her desire to find others to talk to drives her curiosity and discoveries within the hospital.

There are some surprises in store as she learns more about the staff of Raspberry Hill, and an exciting but shocking climax to the story. Young tweens will cheer this young heroine on in her determination to share the truth, as her own life is suddenly in danger.

Author – Eva Frantz

Translator – AA Prime

Age – 8+

A translated book from Sweden — I always enjoy reading books from other countries— if anything to get an idea of concepts that are interesting in their countries and cultures.
This story follows the story of a little girl with TB sent to Raspberry Hill sanatorium and her experiences there. By Chapter 8 — I was still wondering — what is the Mystery ? Then chapter 9 brings in the story about a fire where people had died — and the mystery begins as does the conspiracy theories about the place. I enjoyed the read — great for age 13 and older ( hence the 4 star rating ) as younger might get nightmares . The story was well written and enjoyable and I got invested in the character Stina immediately. A great read — recommended .

Thank-you to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for this ARC , this is my honest review.

Stina is a 10 year old girl, who knows she is going to die. When her family has the opportunity to give her a second chance at life, they take it. After being sent to Raspberry Hill Sanatorium, things are not quite what they appear to be.

As an adult reading this, I found it amazing. The story kept me gripped and wanting more. It puts you in the mind of a child that knows that their time is coming to an end. Some stuff was predictable (once again I'm looking at this from the perspective of an adult), but the last twist/reveal got me. I will definitely be getting the physical copy of this book when it is released in September.

This book is pretty dark for 9-12 year old's. If you have a child that can handle this type of story, then get it for them. As a parent I would read it first before giving it to them, just to make sure that it is the type of book you are okay with your kid to read. I would recommend this book to Middle school aged kids (13-15).