Once Upon a Dark November | Literary Qualities

Once Upon a Dark November Literary Qualities

"November was dreary and bleak; the trees looked forlorn and bare; it was dark by four-thirty." Throughout the book, York refers to the cold, sometimes foggy, weather and gloominess of this time of year to create an aura of mystery. She contrasts the gloom with light effectively to create moods as scenes change. She uses Halloween trick-or-treating as a vehicle to introduce Miss Gorley, an elderly woman who makes neighborhood children feel inexplicably uneasy.

The book is written in the third person, from Katie's perspective. The reader knows only what Katie sees. What she cannot see, she imagines—for example, what goes on in Miss Gorley's house—much as the reader might imagine what is not told in the story.

The plot is deceptively simple with a twist at the end. Subtle clues left throughout the book become clear only when the mystery is solved.