The House with a Clock in Its Walls

The House with a Clock in Its Walls is a novel for young readers by the American writer John Bellairs, published in 1973 and illustrated by Edward Gorey. It is the first of the books about Lewis Barnavelt, and a film adaptation followed in 2018.

Lewis comes to New Zebedee, Michigan, to live with his uncle Jonathan, who turns out to be a well-meaning but not very accomplished warlock. His next-door neighbour and friend Florence Zimmermann is a considerably more powerful witch, and the two of them know something about the house that Lewis does not. Lewis is also trying to make a place for himself at a new school, which is how he comes to be friends with a popular local boy named Tarby Corrigan.

The house was owned before them by Isaac Izard and his wife Selena, who were corrupted by the black magic they practised and who plotted to bring the world to an end. Isaac built a clock before he died and hid it inside the walls, where it goes on ticking, and the novel follows Lewis as he finds out what it is for.