The House with a Clock in Its Walls
When Lewis Barnavelt, an orphan, comes to stay with his uncle Jonathan, he expects to meet an ordinary person. But he is wrong. Uncle Jonathan and his next-door neighbor, Mrs. Zimmermann, are both magicians! Lewis is thrilled. At first, watching magic is enough. Then Lewis experiments with magic himself and unknowingly resurrects the former owner of the house: a woman named Selenna Izard. It seems that Selenna and her husband built a timepiece into the walls—a clock that could obliterate humankind. And only the Barnavelts can stop it!
What you might want to know about The House with a Clock in Its Walls
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
After his parents die in a car accident, ten-year-old Lewis Barnavelt is sent to live with his uncle Jonathan in the small town of New Zebedee, Michigan. Uncle Jonathan and the neighbor Mrs. Zimmermann turn out to be a wizard and a witch, and the house holds a clock left by its dead former owner.
John Bellairs wrote three Lewis Barnavelt novels: The House with a Clock in Its Walls, The Figure in the Shadows, and The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring. Brad Strickland continued the series with more than 10 additional books after Bellairs's death in 1991.
Yes. Eli Roth directed a 2018 film adaptation starring Jack Black and Cate Blanchett. The film follows the novel's spooky-uncle premise with significant comic and horror expansion.
The House with a Clock in Its Walls was written by John Bellairs, published in 1973 by Dial.
The House with a Clock in Its Walls is 179 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The House with a Clock in Its Walls takes most readers 3 to 4 hours to finish.
The House with a Clock in Its Walls is a standalone novel by John Bellairs, not part of a series.
The House with a Clock in Its Walls is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
