What is The Girl and the Ghost (3) Grand Opening about?
Josephine (Jet for short) is helping her family refurbish a French Chateau. The Grand Opening is approaching, and things begin to go wrong. Her locket that holds her ghost friend Louis the seventeenth of French Royalty has been noticed by a jeweller, which causes even more problems. What’s even worse is that her French boy-crush Gabriel is spending a lot of time with a pretty new girl at school.
Has Gabriel forgotten her? Will the chateau fail before it begins? Could it have anything to do with the escaped villain Anastasia?
Plot summary of The Girl and the Ghost (3) Grand Opening (No Spoilers)
The Grand Opening of the chateau Jet’s family have been refurbishing is fast approaching. It has been sped up with money Jet received after helping foil a neighbour and sophisticated art thief named Anastasia. Many treasured pieces of art were saved, but the villain herself escaped capture.
New neighbours moved in after Anastasia went on the run, but Jet finds them a little strange too. When they bring her a kitten as a gift, she is surprised and enchanted by the small bundle of stripes she soon calls Tiger.
With her step mum’s 40th also approaching, Jet visits a jeweller with her dad to help choose a ring. When the jeweller sees her locket he is intrigued. Jet is upset about leaving it with the jeweller for an appraisal, but of course cannot tell her father that her ghost friend Louis XVII lives in it!
When news of the locket hits the papers, Jet worries for its safety. The jeweller believes it could have been purchased many years before by French royalty in the very same store. All she wants is to have it back safely around her neck, but things keep getting in the way.
The same is happening at the chateau. The birthday celebrations don’t quite go to plan and the preparation for the Grand Opening is troubled by a continuous barrage of problems. Credit cards go missing. A load of rocks are delivered on the driveway and the wrong size beds are delivered. More and more problems arise, until Jet believes it can’t be a coincidence.
All the while, Jet is worried that her wonderful summer with gorgeous Gabriel is never to be repeated, as another girl takes up all of his time.
Who is responsible for the problems at the chateau? Will they open, only to receive terrible reviews? Will Gabriel ever kiss her again?
Review
More mystery is served at Jet’s new chateau home. Add a stripy new kitten, a beautiful classmate, and disaster after disaster as the grand opening approaches and tension is rife. When both her parents are physically injured and arson is added too, Jet is really beginning to worry.
The constant knowledge that Anastasia is still out there, and with her final threat still fresh in Jet’s memory, no one knows what is going to happen next. Red herrings swim everywhere, leaving me wondering who is causing the problems? The new housekeeper, the gardener or the tradies working on the property?
Another great episode of this series with just the right mix of romance, growing up, mystery and the through line of malice from the threat of Anastasia still out there….
Book Style
368 Pages /Â 38 Chapters / Epilogue
FAQ’s
What age is it for?
11+
Where & When is it set?
In a chateau in South western France / Present
What is the Point of View / Tense of the novel?
Third Person / Past Tense
Is there Violence?
No
What genre is The Girl and the Ghost (3) Grand Opening?
Middle Grade Mystery
Themes
Real Life / Ghosts / Romance / Friendship / Mystery / History
Is it part of a series?
Yes – The Girl and the Ghost Series
- The Girl and the Ghost
- Family Secrets
- Grand Opening
- ?
Author
Jacqueline Harvey
Illustrator
A Yi
Publisher
Penguin Books Australia
Find the previous books in the series here
(2026, Penguin Books Australia, Series, France, Family, Humour, Ghost, Crime, Friendship, Romance, Ghost, Mystery, Crush, France, French Chateau, Refurbishing, Building, Prize, Jealousy, Belief in ghosts, Grand opening, Hotel, Locket, Secrets)