I'm the King of the Castle

Boys will be boys, but in England, with the reminder of Lord of the Flies and If, they seem to be a class apart, a law unto themselves, and the perpetrator-victims of monstrous malevolence. Thus Miss Hill's spare and unsparing account of the enforced relationship of motherless Edmund Hooper and fatherless Charles Kingshaw after Mrs. Kingshaw becomes Mr. Hooper's housekeeper hoping at last to find a home for herself and young Charles. Edmund greets the newcomer with hostility; terrifies him with dead moths and a stuffed crow; locks him up in the rooms of the large, isolated house; and baits and bullies him on every occasion. Charles decides to run away and Edmund follows him through the spectral Hang Wood where Edmund, also susceptible to terror, has an accident. Later he attempts to follow Charles up on the parapet of a castle and again, frozen in fear, falls - unfortunately not to his death. Finally with Mrs. Kingshaw's marriage to Mr. Hooper, Charles can see only one alternative to his entrapment. . . . Miss Hill's misbegotten little blighters are not particularly prepossessing or pitiable but one reads their story fastened on to the inevitable worst in whatever form it will take. (Kirkus Reviews)