The Seer of Shadows

I have finished The Seer of Shadows, another awesome book by Avi. It is about Horace Carpetine who is the apprentice to Enoch Middleditch, a photographer. When Mrs. Frederick Von Macht, a very wealthy lady, orders a photo, strange things happen. Mrs. Von Macht's daughter, Eleanora, supposedly died last spring from scarlet fever. Horace's first photographs show a freaky image. It has the face of Eleanora. Pegg, Eleanora's best friend and the Von Machts' servant, tells Horace the horrifying truth. Pegg and Horace realize Horace's pictures are bringing Eleanora's ghost to life. Eleanora returns, intent on getting a horrible revenge.



My first question was, why would the Von Machts torture her if she was supposedly their daughter? Apparently, Eleanora was their rich niece and they hoped to steal her fortune. But if the Von Machts were kind and loving people, maybe Eleanora would've shared her money. You see, because they were so neglectful to her and Pegg, she refused to sign the papers that transferred her money to theirs.



I felt really bad for Pegg because before Eleanora got adopted by them, Pegg was Eleanora's adopted sister. Eleanora's mother treated them both equally, very kindly. But after she died, the Von Machts adopted her, trying to steal her money. The Von Machts were very cruel to Pegg and Eleanora. That is how Eleanora died. The Von Machts kepted her weak and kepted her in one of the servants' rooms. She became sick and the Von Machts refused to get a docter for her so she died. Now she is a ghost who is trying to get revenge on the Von Machts.



Also, how did Horace's pictures bring Eleanora's ghost to life? All he did was take pictures of her pictures and somehow, every picture of her got clearer and clearer. When Mr. Middleditch took pictures. nothing happened, he just got a pciture of the person he was photographing. Pegg said it was because Horace was a "seer". "Seers" are wise people that see things no one else sees. But Pegg could see Eleanora's ghost too. So does that mean that she is a seer too?