WE PLAYED WITH FIRE by catherine barter

Maggie has witnessed impossible things. But no one believes her, and now her family has taken her away to spend the winter upstate in a remote, freezing farmhouse.

Bored and angry, Maggie and her younger sister Kate start to play tricks: rapping on the floorboards above their parents’ bedroom, cracking their toes under the table, and telling tales about noises in the night. Then the house starts to make sounds of its own. Neither Maggie nor Kate can explain it, but it seems as though someone – or something – is trying to speak to them . . .

Inspired by the incredible true tale of the Fox Sisters, the girls who made their fortune in nineteenth-century America by speaking to ghosts.

I love the supernatural and paranormal. I'm equal parts fascinated and scared by it. The story of the Fox Sisters always intrigued me and when I heard about this fictionalised version of their lives I had to read it and I was pleasantly surprised by it. 

The writing itself was enjoyable and I was impressed by the author's ability to weave a plot into a preexisting true story. It would have been easy to just scrap all knowledge of the sister's and make it up entirely and I appreciate that Catherine did not do this. It was a perfect blend of the Fox sisters' truth and making things happen to create an enjoyable novel.

My only complaint is I wanted this book to be spookier - more horror than just slightly paranormal mystery. But overall it was a very enjoyable book and I'm very grateful I got my hands on a copy!