| A wonderful children's book by John Bellairs with illustrations by Edward Gorey.
This book has everything I ever wanted in a story as a child- magic, cookies and cider, enchanted garden parties, old houses with big fireplaces and lots of rooms, weird relatives, necromancy, car chases, bickering old people, the end of the world... everything.
Synopsis:Lewis, a boy of about 11, has lost both of his parents and must go to live with his uncle Jonathan, a mildly eccentric man that his church-going aunts have warned him against. Uncle Jonathan and his friend and neighbor Mrs. Zimmerman turn out to be white magicians (and good poker players). Lewis, being chubby and unathletic, is unpopular and in danger of losing the one friend he has made since moving to town. To impress him, Lewis secretly performs a spell from one of his uncle's books in front of a mysterious tomb in the local graveyard.
Soon, the deceased former owners of Uncle Jonathan's house -an extremely powerful and evil wizard and witch by the name of Izzard- seem to have moved in across the street. At the same time, the ticking noise that seems to come from everywhere in the house has increased in volume and frequency. Scared that these two phenomena might be connected to what he did, Lewis spills his guts to Jonathan and Mrs. Zimmerman. The three must stop the Izzards from getting to the clock in the walls for if they reach it, it would mean the end of the world. | 
