66 pages • 2 hours read
Mary Downing HahnA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Wait Till Helen Comes is a ghost story and falls into the supernatural fiction genre. Several literary devices play an important part in making the novel spooky. First among them is the story’s atmosphere, which is the feeling the readers get from a story. Hahn creates an atmosphere of horror. Throughout the novel Hahn’s readers experience feelings of fear, suspense, dread, and anxiety. Elements such as setting and mood, as well as Hahn’s use of foreshadowing and allusions, all help build the scary feeling that readers experience during the novel.
The novel’s setting contributes significantly to its frightening atmosphere. Setting is a novel’s sense of time and place—its “world.” Setting can influence the plot and how the characters act. In an interview with Tattle, Hahn explains that most of her story ideas stem from physical locations, saying, “I go somewhere and I see something and it starts me thinking. And an idea gradually grows out of the setting” (Cosyn, Erin. “Author Interview: Mary Downing Hahn, Part 2.” Tattle, 7 October 2014).
By Mary Downing Hahn
All The Lovely Bad Ones
Mary Downing Hahn
Closed for the Season
Mary Downing Hahn
December Stillness
Mary Downing Hahn
Deep and Dark and Dangerous
Mary Downing Hahn
Stepping on the Cracks
Mary Downing Hahn
The Old Willis Place: A Ghost Story
Mary Downing Hahn
Time for Andrew: A Ghost Story
Mary Downing Hahn
Took: A Ghost Story
Mary Downing Hahn