Reading: THORNHILL - Pam Smy

Prose (Story): Told in two interlocking timelines, Thornhill tells the story - in 2017 - of a young woman named Ella, who lives in the top floor of a building that overlooks the broken-down, long-abandoned Thornhill Institute next door ... as well as the story, in 1982, of a young girl named Mary, still living on the top floor of Thornhill even as the orphanage is being closed down, dealing with both the ghosts of the place and a sadistic bully of a fellow student who is slowly driving her to revenge.

Don's (Review): In the space of a week I heard or read three rave reviews of this graphic/narrative novel (Mary's story told through written diary entries, alternating with Ella's story which is told in dark and moody comic-style panels), and the premise alone was enough to peak my interest. Mary's story is sad, a young girl with no family oppressed and depressed and terrorized by a fellow student recently returned to the institute when a family who had adopted her changed their mind. Mary's diary entries will readily connect with anyone who's ever been bullied, even if the unrelenting downer of her story can weigh heavily at times. Things get a bit confusing when the graphic novel portions - Ella's modern-day story - are introduced, but as Ella starts to see what appears to be a young girl on the Thornhill property next door, through her top-floor window, the two tales alternate and converge, finally revealing their connection to each other and an ending that was melancholy but at the same time fully satisfying ... my only issue with this book being my wish that author Pam Smy had developed Ella a bit more as a character - and maybe edited Mary's downer of a tale down a bit, as all that gloom occasionally became too much to keep pushing through on the page.  3.5/5 stars