The Corruption of Hollis Brown: Radiant-Wallis Brown

by K. Ancrum
In this novel, Hollis Brown becomes possessed by a ghost from his run-down town's past — but even as he struggles to be free, he finds himself falling in love.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Hollis-Delicate, Flint-Drown, Weep-Groan, Kiss-Rake, Radiant-Wallis Brown
15 words 15 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. vicinity
    a surrounding or nearby region
    As the air velocity goes up, the static pressure goes down, it pushes things in its vicinity toward the reduced pressure.
  2. ricochet
    spring back; spring away from an impact
    They ricocheted off the walls of that space between his spirit and flesh.
  3. incomprehensible
    difficult to understand
    Bad table manners or more incomprehensible subtext?
  4. chagrin
    strong feelings of embarrassment
    Yulia really liked Walt’s gingerbread brownies, to her chagrin and Walt’s delight.
  5. flabbergasted
    as if struck dumb with astonishment and surprise
    “Yeah,” Yulia said, flabbergasted.
  6. immodest
    having or showing an exaggerated opinion of yourself
    Hollis reached out and took himself back in all the ways that mattered, settled down on the hardwood floor. Crossed his legs and leaned back on his palms to look Walt in the eye. Immodest and indolent.
  7. surge
    a sudden forceful flow
    Walt took Yulia’s request with a surge of joy that made Hollis roll his eyes even harder.
  8. misshapen
    so badly formed or distorted as to be ugly
    The ones with holes are misshapen, just real bad beginner’s stuff.
  9. conjecture
    the formation of conclusions from incomplete evidence
    Not that we know enough about this to be giving out advice. . . . My dad’s smart, but we’re all just making conjectures.
  10. miasma
    unhealthy vapors rising from the ground or other sources
    It was like there was a miasma over Rose Town.
  11. implode
    burst inward
    The instant Walt hit the surface of Hollis’s skin, the room imploded.
  12. hurtle
    make a thrusting forward movement
    When the weakness of losing Walt came as he knew it would, he caught himself on one knee and hurtled his arm like a comet toward the tincture.
  13. tincture
    a medicine consisting of an extract in an alcohol solution
    When the weakness of losing Walt came as he knew it would, he caught himself on one knee and hurtled his arm like a comet toward the tincture.
  14. merge
    mix together different elements
    Hollis looked at the tincture suspended and leaned down to fit it, put his arms where Walt’s arms were, legs bent beneath them, leaned his face where Walt’s face was, merged them manually.
  15. shrewd
    marked by practical hardheaded intelligence
    “He’s gambling on us.”
    “Shrewd businessman.”
Created on Mon Sep 22 06:59:49 EDT 2025 (updated Fri Nov 14 21:07:49 EST 2025)

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