The Shape of Darkness by Laura Purcell

Agnes Darken is a silhouette artist, with paper and scissors summoning up a person's likeness. In Bath's heyday it was a profitable occupation but now, like the city itself, it's fallen out of favour, and Agnes struggles to make enough income to support herself, her elderly mother, and orphaned nephew. Then, one of her clients is murdered shortly after posing for a portrait. Then another ... and another ...

Trying to make sense of these events, Agnes decides to contact those who've died through a medium - a young girl, Pearl, who's managed and manipulated by her older half-sister - but instead of clarifying anything, Agnes and Pearl manage to raise troubled spirits out for revenge. 

 Part ghost story, part whodunit, The Shape of Darkness is gripping and enthralling; a book I didn't want to put down.

I loved the depiction of Bath; shabby and down at heel, full of memories of better times when visitors flocked there to 'take the waters', but by the mid-1800s no longer popular with the leisured upper classes. Agnes' fortunes have mirrored those of the city. Her hopes of love and marriage were dashed, and now she's a lonely middle-aged women struggling to get by, and desperately trying to avoid her memories of the past. 

Through Pearl and her sister the reader enters the world of professional mediums and mesmerists. As you might expect, it's a world where things are not quite as they seem. Pearl may have some ability to contact the dead, but her sister knows that isn't enough to bring people back time and again, that a certain level of showmanship is required to make a living out of it. 

There's a dark, brooding atmosphere throughout, as is fitting for a ghostly thriller. It's a book in which nothing is quite what it seems, and in the best tradition, it has a twist (or more) waiting at the end for the reader. 

Maryom's review - 4 stars 
Publisher - Raven (Bloomsbury) 
Genre - Adult  gothic ghosts

Witchbottle by Tom Fletcher

 Once Daniel had a family - a wife and child - and a career, somewhere in a city vaguely 'down south', but now he's living alone, working as a milkman in the rural north-west of England. His job is undemanding, monotonous, but he likes the lack of pressure, and being out driving round the countryside. Recently though odd things have begun to happen - Daniel's seeing ghosts, and it seems like many of his customers are too, and although Daniel's girlfriend can help out with a 'witch bottle' to keep phantoms and nightmares at bay, it seems to be just a stop-gap measure. There's also the mystery surrounding the men driving the Fallen Stock vans, ostensibly they're collecting dead animals from the farms for safe disposal, but Daniel feels they're up to something far more sinister.

It's a synopsis that feels full of dread and suspense, but for my taste it took just too long to get round to the creepy bits. The detail about milk rounds and the quirks of the customers would have been all very well in a different sort of book but here they just seemed drawn out, and unnecessary. When the story eventually gets round to Daniel's nightmares, and the ghostly presences appearing all over the neighbourhood, the chill factor cranks up a notch or two, but it was too little, too late for me. 

We Wait by Megan Taylor

"The wealthy Crawleys can’t abide a scandal, so when fifteen-year-old Maddie’s behaviour causes concern, she’s packed off to the family’s country estate, along with her best friend, Ellie. But while Maddie is resentful, Ellie is secretly thrilled.  A whole summer at Greywater House, which she’s heard so much about – and with Maddie, who she adores…

But from the moment the girls arrive, it’s clear there’s more to the house and the family than Ellie could ever have imagined.  Maddie’s aunt, Natalie, and her bedridden grandmother are far from welcoming – and something has been waiting at Greywaters, something that flits among the shadows and whispers in the night.

As the July heat rises and the girls’ relationship intensifies, the house’s ghosts can’t be contained, and it isn’t just Ellie who has reason to be afraid.  Three generations of the Crawley family must face their secrets when past and present violently collide."

Ghost stories have a tradition of belonging to the long dark nights of winter, but here Megan Taylor turns things around, setting this tale in the baking heat of summer.  While ghosts whisper from within the walls of the Greywater House, the oppressive atmosphere builds; like the release that thunder brings, something at Greywater is getting ready to burst. And as the two teens are drawn irresistibly to each other, Maddie's aunt Natalie remembers her own youth, and the dreadful events that shaped her life. 

We Wait is a story of family secrets, with a terrific brooding atmosphere. It maybe falls somewhere between ghost story and psychological thriller, or maybe it's both combined. Evil just drips from the old house, and you know something horrific is going to occur. Great for lovers of both genres

Supernatural reads

For Halloween I thought I'd look round the bookshelves and see what I had sitting waiting to be read in the way of scary supernatural reads - and these were the first to come to hand; Bram Stoker's Dracula (unbelievably, perhaps, I've never read it!), and a short story collection, Oxford Twelve Tales of the Supernatural edited by Michael Cox. I thought I'd have time to read both before Halloween, as neither are very long, but things didn't work out that way.

I started with the collected stories. Hmm, that didn't go well. I've said before that a lot of supposedly scary stories leave me cold, but in a bad way, and these did that. Despite some big names among the collection - LeFanu, and M R James, for example - they didn't seem spooky or tense to me. Maybe back when they were 'new' there was an element of surprise to them, but I found them dreadfully predictable.

On to Dracula ... although I haven'r actually READ this before it's difficult to not have some idea of the plot from films, even if they aren't entirely 'as the book'. It's hard therefore to put yourself into the mindset of someone reading the book with no idea of what will happen, of why the Count can only see his visitor at night, of why it's probably best for all concerned that Jonathan Harker does as the Count tells him and stays safely in the rooms assigned to him. I was also afraid that like some of the short stories it would just be so predictable. It was, as obviously I'd an idea of the plot, but it was still very readable. The writing conveys a definite feeling of growing dread, but having reached a high point, instead of attempting (and possibly failing) to maintain it, moves back to the more prosaic world of daily domesticity - and manages to pull this off several times. The Count of course moves to England and attempts to continue his vampiric ways here, but a group of young men, aided by vampire-expert Van Helsing, strive to put an end to him. Towards the end, I felt the story became more 'thriller' than ' 'supernatural tale' but was perhaps better for it.
It's a bit slow at time, especially when Van Helsing is explaining something, and there are dodgy attitudes towards women and 'foreigners' but in all it's a good read.




For some of my favorite Halloween reads see here over on my Other Thoughts blog

Seven Ghosts by Chris Priestley

Jake is one a group of children invited to a special tour of Grimstone Hall. It's a place famous for the number of ghosts sighted there, and the visit has been organised for finalists in a ghost story writing competition.
Mrs Fox, their guide, shows them round, taking them up to the roof and out into the gardens, telling stories of the ghosts associated with each spot, and as the tour progresses Jake realises he's seeing things that the other children appear to not notice - a flicker of coloured silks, something bright and shining moving across the lawn, a girl wearing odd, old fashioned clothing. Jake begins to think Mrs Fox is not telling the whole truth about the ghosts of Grimstone Hall.

Seven Ghosts is a great ghostly read for Halloween (or any other time). The seven stories divide the book up into nicely sized 'chunks' to be read at one sitting, while the link sections, following the prize-winners on their tour, keep the chill factor going as Jake's suspicions rise.
Chris Priestley is the author of one of my favourite ghost stories, The Dead of Winter ,which although intended as a teen read is spot on for me, and here he's written and illustrated a brilliant collection of stories for a younger age group. These tales are spooky and menacing, but without being scary - just right for the intended readership of 8 years and older. They're the stuff to grab a child's imagination and send a cold shiver up their spine, not send them to bed with nightmares.

As always with Barrington Stoke books, it's printed on cream paper in a dyslexia-friendly font to make it accessible to all, and, in addition, has full- and part-page illustrations throughout from the author himself, to bring the ghosts of Grimstone to life (if that's the appropriate word)



Publisher - Barrington Stoke
Genre - ghost stories, 8+, dyslexia-friendly 

Sunny and the Ghosts by Alison Moore

'Sometimes, when you open a door or lift a lid, you find exactly what you expected to find: coats in the coat cupboard, bread in the bread bin, toys in the toy box. And sometimes you don’t.'

illustrated by Ross Collins

review by Maryom 

Sunny's parents like old things - clocks and pianos, books and ornaments - so bought an antique shop, with a flat above where they live. Sunny helps in the shop by polishing mirrors, brass coal scuttles and copper kettles, out of which he always thinks a genie might appear. It isn't a genie he finds hiding among the old blanket chests and wardrobes, though, but a ghost ... then another ... and then a third is found locked in a cupboard! The ghosts all seem friendly, and hardly any trouble at all (unless you count playing the piano at night), but someone seems to be causing trouble in the shop. Books are thrown off their shelves, an ornament broken, dozens of cats let in to wander round the shop, sit on furniture and cushions, sleep in pots and pans. Sunny suspects there must be another ghost, a naughty one, playing pranks and getting up to mischief, but how can he make the ghost show himself, and then leave?

You'll probably have heard of Alison Moore as an award-winning author, listed for the Booker and such, but this is her first book aimed at a younger readership. 

It does share some characteristics of Moore's 'adult' novels - an interest in the meanings behind words and phrases, a brevity of words to describe people and situations, but it most definitely isn't a grown-ups novel dumbed down for children. It's a light-hearted and fun read, with line-drawings by Ross Collins bringing characters and situations to life, eminently suitable for children who find scary, hide under the bedsheets ghost stories just too frightening. The plot moves along quickly, and once Sunny finds one ghost, more seem to appear every day, popping up in all sorts of odd places around the shop. It's all jolly, apart from the puzzle of who, or what, is behind the trouble in the shop. Sunny's parents seem inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt, and don't blame him for it, but I'm not sure they really believe his tale of ghosts either. With a little help from his spectral friends though Sunny manages to track down the trouble maker, and find a way to settle the problem. 

Further stories are planned so this looks like being the beginning of quite an adventure for Sunny and the Ghosts.

Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Salt Publishing
Genre - children's ghost stories 9+

A Ghost's Story by Lorna Gibb

review by Maryom

Katie King was a superstar 'spirit' of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Along with her male counterpart John, she appeared at seances and spiritualist meetings in America, Britain, Russia and Italy. Some people believed in her whole-heartedly; others believed her to be just trick being played on the unsuspecting. Sometimes she would move objects, sometimes glide across the room or speak through a medium, but as she feels her powers failing she decides to write her story and help people understand what lies 'on the other side'. 
The spirit comes to consciousness in the early 1800s, slipping into and changing a boy's life; thereafter whenever she can she seeks out that boy as he grows to adulthood and,inevitably, old age. But Katie can only go where she is called, so is often frustrated in her wishes, and begins to learn about human emotions - the longing for companionship and even love. 

Katie's story is told through a collection of spirit writings - some dictated through mediums, others written directly by her on a computer - gathered from various sources around the world by researcher Adam Marcus, working for The Magic Circle, and while Katie's evolution, from wispy spirit to one who could manipulate objects and people, forms the main story, alongside in the footnotes is the tale of Adam's original scepticism, his failing health, and his growing belief that Katie isn't a figment of imagination or a piece of theatrical fakery but a being as alive as himself.

First off I would say this isn't maybe the kind of spooky ghost story you would expect - Katie isn't a malevolent ghost out for revenge, haunting an ancestral home or the place she was killed while seeking retribution, or even an unsettled spirit yearning to be re-united with a loved one. She doesn't remember a corporeal life at all, just a series of rushed, blurred images, always associated with death, before she fully gains 'consciousness'. Nonetheless, I found it an extremely fascinating, compelling read. Her 'memoirs' take the reader behind the scenes at seances in places as diverse as log cabins on the American frontier and the splendour of the Russian Court, though mainly they take place in the respectable homes of Victorian era professional mediums - some of whom have a real connection to the spirit world (according to Katie), some are just plain charlatans, but all rely on a range of gimmicks to impress their audience. 
Katie herself is, at various times, amused, irritated, curious, bored, witty, vivacious, sad; in fact, she's completely human. 

Unlike the stories which set out to frighten the reader, this one made me wonder what exactly ghosts might be - not the dead, returned to pass on messages, but other unknown spirits maybe. For me, though, at heart, this is a very human story, one of the search for love, which surely all of us can relate to.





Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Granta Books
Genre - Adult, ghost stories

Thin Air by Michelle Paver

review by Maryom

In 1935, a five-man British expedition sets off to the Himalayas to climb Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world and considered by many mountaineers to be more treacherous than even Everest. Previous attempts to reach the summit have been plagued by disaster and death, particularly a British expedition of nearly thirty years before during which five men died but the leader, Lyell returned home to glory for his efforts. 

Stephen Pearce has only been asked along at the last minute by his elder brother, Kits, to fill the place of team doctor, and he isn't as experienced a mountaineer as the other climbers. He's eager and willing though, especially in the hope of proving himself capable in Kits' eyes, and wanting to escape various personal complications back in London. A chance meeting with Charles Tennant, last surviving member of the ill-fated Lyell Expedition,, leads Stephen to believe that strange things occurred which were never revealed in the 'official' publications about the trip ...and the scene is set for a harrowing climb. He is almost immediately on edge, believing their party is being watched, and as they begin the real ascent, and altitude sickness starts to kick in, his fears grow ...

Thin Air is a combination of adventure and ghost story, full of period detail - from the attitude of the British team towards their 'inferior' sherpas to the unappetising pemmican suppers eaten on the mountain -  and after a slow start, setting up the background with dark hints of what occurred on previous expeditions, and the long-held rivalry between the two brothers, turns into something terrifying in so many ways;

 - the sheer height and mountaineering dangers for starters. The precipitous drops, crevasses in the glacier ice, the narrow camping places where I felt they could roll over in their sleep and fall hundreds if not thousands of feet, cornices where the snow builds up a 'shelf' ready to collapse under too much weight; the physical dangers are very real and well captured.

 -  Cedric the dog - why let a dog go along? Ok it turned out the dog was based on a real life canine companion who followed an expedition up to 24, 000 ft (!) but authors are so often happy to kill off an animal while saving humans that a lot of the time I was petrified for him.

 - Oh, and then there's a ghostly, malevolent presence on the mountain. Paver builds up to its appearance gradually, as first Stephen tries to dismiss it as his imagination running wild or altitude sickness disturbing his senses but gradually comes to believe that someone or something is stalking their group, and, even if the other men can't see it, Cedric the dog knows there's something out there - and he's terrified when it approaches.

If you've read Michelle Paver's previous ghost story Dark Matter, you'll know how well she can build a creepy, unsettling atmosphere - and she's done it again here, in a very different environment. I for one couldn't put the story down but needed to read on to the final resolution before trying to sleep!


Maryom's review - 4 stars 
Publisher - Orion Books
Genre - adult fiction ghosts mountaineering 

Slade House by David Mitchell

review by Maryom

" Turn down Slade Alley - narrow, dank and easy to miss, even when you're looking for it. Find the small black iron door set into the right-hand wall. No handle, no keyhole, but at your touch it swings open. Enter the sunlit garden of an old house that doesn't quite make sense; too grand for the shabby neighbourhood, too large for the space it occupies."

This strange building, Slade House, lies at the heart of David Mitchell's latest novel like an evil witch's hovel in some ghostly horror tale - and every nine years someone is enticed within its walls and never seen again! In 1979, a mother and son are invited to a musical garden party; nine years later, Detective Inspector Edmonds is following up a lead to their disappearance; another nine years, and a group of students investigating paranormal activities find their way to Slade House; in 2006 the journalist sister of one of those students comes seeking further information; and in 2015 a Canadian psychiatrist with an interest in abduction psychoses finds her way into the mysterious garden of Slade House. With each section the tension builds, a little bit more of the House's origins are revealed, and the horror that lies at its heart grows....

 I've been longing to read this book since I heard David Mitchell read the opening section at Hay Festival last May, but as always there seemed to be something else that needed to be read first so it's taken me quite a while to get round to it. That taster definitely set the tone for the book with that 'read if you dare' feel of a good ghost or horror story, which terrifies you but encourages you to carry on reading; you know that no matter how scary, you are NOT going to put this book down till the end!
 I've fairly recently read The Bone Clocks for my book club, and while I enjoyed it, it was a slow drawn-out read; Slade House is the opposite. Possibly because at 230 or so pages it's a lot shorter than other David Mitchell books, possibly because of the way the story falls into five almost self-contained parts, possibly because each section lures the reader towards both its own climax and then the next 'episode', I raced through it.
 With the book splitting into five self-contained sections, you might expect a slight skimping on character development, but no, with the skill of a short-story teller, Mitchell develops each and all of them, relating the stories in first person to make the reader privy to their thoughts and attitudes. We're introduced to an autistic boy struggling to quite 'fit', a world-weary policeman still gullible enough to be seduced by an attractive woman, students with their mix of attitude and cool, a journalist plagued by guilt, - every one a believable 'real' person.
 Slade House inhabits the same 'world' as The Bone Clocks, and makes several passing references to events and characters from it, but stands alone, so there's no real need to have read one to enjoy the other. I actually think if you've heard of David Mitchell, and been intending reading his novels but been put off by the length, Slade House is a brilliant place to start.



Maryom's review -  5 stars
Publisher -  Sceptre
Genre - ghost/horror stories,

Sugar Hall by Tiffany Murray - re-read

review by Maryom

In the run up to Halloween publisher Seren Books have been holding a read-a-long of Tiffany Murray's Sugar Hall  - one of the few ghost/horror stories that actually sent shivers down my spine and at times terrified me - so I had to join in! I find a lot of scary stories miss their mark with me - either falling flat or turning to comedy in their desperate attempts to frighten - Sugar Hall didn't.
I thought re-reading a ghost story might be a bit like going back to a crime novel, you know what will happen, all the plot twists, how it ends ...... so how did it go?  Well, actually I found it more terrifying than before ....

Lilia Sugar and her two children have moved from London to her late husband's family home Sugar Hall. It's a place full of secrets, built with money from slave and sugar trade, and it's haunted by one of those slaves - a young boy who saw his mother buried alive, and was then killed by his owner.

On the very first page we meet the ghost -  Lilia's son Dieter is fleeing from something he's seen; he knows it's a ghost, the reader knows it's a ghost but his mother and sister dismiss it as a figment of imagination or an attention-grabbing story. Dieter is lonely, he decides to make friends with the ghost, and, even at the first reading, the reader just knows no good will come of it. Dieter is both attracted and repelled by this slave boy; knows at heart that he should resist him but can't. First time through, I was hooked, wondering what would happen next; this time, knowing what would happen, I was horrified. I just wanted to shake his mother and say "Look at what's happening around you! Do something while you can!" But of course, I couldn't, and the whole ghastly tale reeled out again like a slow-motion car crash.
In some ways it seemed there was more time to 'look around' at the rest of the story, to see the other characters as more than just supporting the main plot. Lilia's story - her flight from Germany just before world war two, her relationships with the men in her life, her barely acknowledged dislike of her daughter - grabbed me more, because I was happy to be distracted from Dieter's growing dependence on the ghost.


It certainly lived up to the horror I'd felt first time .....maybe next year I'll read it again....


Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Seren Books
Genre - adult horror ghost story

The Ghosts Who Danced, and other spooky stories from around the world by Saviour Pirotta

illustrated by Paul Hess

review by Maryom

With Halloween just a day or two away, it seems like an ideal time to review this latest collection of folk tales by Saviour Pirotta. These ten stories from around the world are aimed at the younger reader, or listener, so although spooky they're not terrifying. In many of the stories the ghosts are friendly, willing to help those who are kind to them, and even the most frightening ghost can be out-witted.
There are tales of ghostly ships and wayside inns, of ghosts seeking something taken from them, or trying to make amends for things they did while alive, of mysterious dogs that come to the rescue of travellers, and,of course, the ghosts delighted to find a fiddler to play for them while they dance on Halloween.
As with many folk tales, there's a moral element to the stories - basically, be nice to others, including ghosts, and treat them kindly  - ghosts may reward you if you do, by pointing the way to treasure or helping you out in some other way, but turn into a nuisance if you don't!

It would make a gorgeous gift but won't be the sort that sits unread on the shelf. There are colourful atmospheric illustrations throughout, several full pages and many smaller ones scattered among the text, making it ideal to share with younger children while the slightly older will be delighted to read on their own.

This is the full list of stories with their place of origin, and there are more details about them and how the author discovered  them in the back of the book ; The Ghost Ship ( USA); Dogs to the Rescue (Russia); I’ll Be Back (Lithuania); The Ghosts Who Danced (Ireland); The Haunted Farmhouse (England); Them Bananas (Tanzania); Welcome to the Red Palace Inn ( China); The Guest (Brazil); The Ghost and his Uncle (India); Atchoo! (Korea)


Publisher - Frances Lincoln
Genre - ghost stories, illustrated story book,

Hay Festival - author event - Tiffany Murray and David Mitchell

We're just back from a couple of days away in Wales, including a brief visit to Hay Festival  where I caught the late night event Halloween Comes Early with authors Tiffany Murray and David Mitchell, and chaired by Rosie Goldsmith. As you probably expected with that title, the event was all about ghost stories -

Published last year, Tiffany Murray's Sugar Hall is the spine-tingling tale of a young boy, Dieter, newly moved to the old family home on the English/Welsh border, who encounters the ghost of another young boy - once a slave in the house. Although terrified, Dieter is drawn back and makes friends with him - but as the ghostly boy grows in substance it's obvious that his intentions are evil. I don't normally get on well with ghost stories but this had me hooked - and terrified of what would happen as the story unfolded.


David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas and The Bone Clocks, will have his own ghostly book, Slade House, out in October. Down narrow, dark Slade Alley is a small black door that leads into a garden that doesn't quite make sense - Tardis-like it seems too large inside for the space it occupies. Every nine years, on the last Saturday of October, a guest enters, but why have they been chosen and by whom....This was the first 'outing' for Slade House so we audience members were very privileged to hear the author read from the opening chapter.

Both authors have themselves had, if not visits from ghosts, than certainly spooky things happen around them - doors which were locked at night were always found open in the morning, and a presence sitting at the end of the bed. The original inspiration for Sugar Hall itself came from a story of a local haunted house which Tiffany Murray was told as a child.

It's always interesting to hear authors themselves read from their books - often it's only a small snippet but this time both authors read much longer sections. The Starlight Stage was an ideal setting for such an event with the twinkling lights in the ceiling dimmed to create the right eerie atmosphere as we heard the opening chapters of these two books, the stories of two small boys, one encountering a ghost, one discovering a beautiful but strange garden.

Advantages of the Older Man by Gwyneth Lewis

review by Maryom

Growing up in Swansea, Jennie has had her fill of both Dylan Thomas and poetry, but when she meets aspiring poet Peter, she soon puts her prejudice aside and finds even an open mic poetry evening can be ok so long as she can be with Peter. Sadly, the course of true love doesn't run smooth and after a fiasco at the Swansea carnival parade, Peter turns sullen and ignores her. Help is at hand for Jennie though, in the unlikely guise of Dylan Thomas - or at least his ghost - who claims he can help her win Peter's heart, but first Jennie has to help Thomas with his plans....


Advantages of the Older Man is a novella-length ghost story; not a scary one that leaves you afraid of the dark or wary of the noises in the attic, but a light-hearted, entertaining one - more Beetlejuice than The Woman in Black.
Dylan Thomas isn't as you would expect him to be either. His drunken lifestyle and moody Celtic image were apparently just an act for the punters - his real self is quieter, homelier and into long-distance running! While pursuing his own ends, he leads Jennie off on a whirlwind trip to the US where nothing goes remotely to plan but we discover the real reason behind Thomas's return from beyond the grave.

Although the author, Gwyneth Lewis, is a former Welsh National Poet, with several poetry collections and non-fiction books to her name, the only work of hers I've read is The Meat Tree , a sci-fi re-working of the Blodeuwedd myth for Seren's Mabinogion series, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Advantages of the Older Man. It probably isn't something I'd have picked up for myself but, when offered it for review, it sounded quirky and funny so I said yes - and I'm so glad I did.

It's darkly funny, filled throughout with wry humour and cleverly written with an unexpected twist at the end; an unusual find, but one I really enjoyed.



Maryom's review - 4.5 stars
Publisher - Seren Books
Genre - adult ghost stories, humour

Sugar Hall by Tiffany Murray

review by Maryom

 Following the death of his father, young Dieter Sugar is now the heir of the rambling family home, Sugar Hall, on the English/Welsh border within sight of the river Severn. Left penniless, his mother Lilia decides the best thing to do is move from London to Sugar Hall, to see if it's possible to live there with her two children, selling off family heirlooms and valuables as necessary. More things have been inherited though than bricks and mortar or works of art....
 Exploring the grounds and outbuildings of his new home, Dieter meets a silent boy wearing nothing but a silver collar. At first he's terrified but still something drags him back, and he decides he and the boy will be friends; Dieter finds him clothes and food, and the boy grows in size and substance, begins to speak and lead Dieter off on dangerous games....

Now, I don't usually get on well with ghost stories written for adults - they either fall flat for me and aren't scary at all, or go too far the other direction ending up so over the top they're comic. So, since reading Chris Priestley's The Dead of Winter , a 'teen' book, and Michelle Paver's Dark Matter, I've being searching for another ghost story that truly sent the shivers up and down my spine - and I'm happy to say I've found it at last.
There's no doubt that right from the start we're dealing with ghosts at Sugar Hall - Dieter's terror on the first page convinces the reader of that, even if his family don't realise. The hook here is what horror will this ghostly boy unleash on the family?

The house itself is the perfect setting for a horror story; it's meant to be lived in by a large family with an even larger staff, so, with only three people there, it's spooky enough on its own. There are too many rooms, filled with disused furniture, stuffed animals and collections of pinned-down butterflies and moths; furniture and ornaments seem to move about of their own volition; odd noises are heard at night; the giant moths on the wallpaper seem to flutter in the lamplight; - there's no wonder that Lilia decides everyone is best sleeping in one bedroom!
Part of what I loved was that it's not just a 'simple' ghost story. There are hints at how the money behind Sugar Hall was made, with glimpses of the desperate lives of its slaves,while in its 'current' timeline, there's the buzz surrounding the trial and death of Ruth Ellis. Lilia, having already built a new life in England as part of the Kindertransport, is trying to build another after the death of her husband, while daughter Saskia is full of teenage dreams and wants to escape back to London. Interspersing their stories with Dieter's ghostly encounters, increases the growing feeling of dread, a sense that something evil has been unleashed - and not for the first time. It all adds up to a spine-shivering, unputdownable read.


Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Seren Books
Genre - adult horror ghost story

The Last of the Spirits by Chris Priestley

review by Maryom

Orphans Sam and Lizzie are used to living rough on the streets of Victorian London but Christmas is approaching and the weather turning colder. In desperation, Sam begs for money - but picks the wrong man to ask - well known miser, Ebenezer Scrooge - and is rudely turned away. His frustration and despair reaching breaking point, Sam resolves to take the old man's money - even if it means harming, even killing him. But it's Christmas Eve and ghosts are gathering round Scrooge to warn him of his evil ways. The same ghosts come to Sam and Lizzie - showing them their past, present and likely future. We all know Scrooge had a change of heart, but will Sam?

You'll probably have noticed before now that I love Chris Priestley's ghost stories - The Dead of Winter sends shivers up and down my spine far more than many 'adult' horror stories which I find so heavy-handed they become comical.

With his last book The Dead Men Stood Together, Chris Priestley took a classic story (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner) and re-invented it to appeal to a younger audience. This time it's Dickens' A Christmas Carol, a story which most of us know by hearsay or from TV and films even if we haven't read the book; the miserly Scrooge is visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, and persuaded to change his ways. Priestley visits the same scenario through the eyes of two homeless youngsters so down on their luck that the warmest sleeping-place they can find is among the tombs in a graveyard. It's not the best spot to pick, as with a moan and a rattle of chains one of the graves opens and a ghost appears....
There are plenty of spine-tingling, hide-behind-the-sofa moments but as with the original, there are lots of threads to spark debate - living conditions of Victorian London, inequalities of wealth, how past actions shape our future.
A spooky, compelling read especially for Christmas fire-side reading, suitable for teens and upwards.

Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Bloomsbury
Genre - Supernatural, Ghost Stories, 12+

Snowblind by Christopher Golden

 review by Maryom

Coventry, Massachusetts is in the grip of an exceptionally bad winter. Snow is lying all around and another storm is about to hit.....But with this storm comes more than mere snow. Within it lurk shadowy, icy forms that lure people from the safety of their homes...
Twelve years later, and the inhabitants of Coventry are still mourning those who went missing that dreadful night....and another huge snow storm is on the way. What will it bring this time?

Snowblind is a chilling, spine-tingling read - all the things you expect from a supernatural thriller. A lot of ghost stories leave me un-moved, but this managed to get under my skin, in a creepy, keep checking over my shoulder, way.

It starts rather slowly - there's a lot of setting the scene, introducing quite a large cast of main characters and letting the reader into their lives - but once it gets going and really on to the freaky storm sections, the pace and the chills pick up. It's definitely a book to read by the fire, with the lights on and the curtains drawn. Setting the events at the time of a massive snowstorm ups the chill factor  - I read this during the last week of sunny weather and was surprised at times to look up and not see snow falling!

There's a lot in there to appeal to lovers of French TV programme The Returned - something to read while they're waiting for next series maybe? 

Maryom's review -  4 stars
Publisher -Headline
Genre - thriller, adult fiction

A Foot in the Grave by Joan Aiken and Jan Pienkowski

Review by The Mole

This collection of short stories was originally published in 1989 for readers of 10 and older. Each one has a supernatural twist which will send a shiver down the reader's spine. These are not drawn out tales of horror but a quick twist at the end that leaves you thinking. I know it left me thinking about weeds on the allotment!

Once you realise these stories are not meant to terrify, but just to shock then you can settle down to enjoy each and every one of them. And just maybe, like me, you may be amused by some of the twists and not just chilled.

The illustrations, which are full colour and generally one per story, are haunting and well drawn for each tale.

The publisher says 10+ and I would agree that if anyone about 10 enjoys a bit of a ghost story then they will certainly enjoy these but with few of the stories actually involving children this is equally a collection for adults.

The whole look and feel of this book is a very nice one and it's a book to want to own. If you have presents to buy and someone on your list likes ghost stories then this could be the perfect gift.

Publisher - Jonathan Cape
Genre - Short stories, Ghosts

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Lockwood & Co: The Screaming Staircase by Jonathon Stroud

Review by The Mole

The "Problem" started 50 years before when ghosts started popping up everywhere intent on killing people. Only some children can sense the ghosts  before they strike and Lucy is working with her adult supervisor, hunting ghosts and eliminating the "Problem" when things go horribly wrong and only her and her supervisor survive. She runs away to London and in desperation she joins Lockwood & Co - an agency that does only private work and has no adult supervision. But does Lockwood have ambitions beyond their abilities? Is he going to get them all killed? They then get a client called Fairfax who seems to want to get them all killed.

"You'll want to leave the lights on... Stroud is a genius" proclaims the front cover. At 430 pages long, yes you will want to leave the light on because you won't want to stop reading! The story is set in a time so unlike our own that I don't believe it will cause nightmares or really frighten readers of any age... but younger readers will want to be like Lucy, George or Lockwood although I wonder if they would admit to wanting to be like cerebral, planning but slightly slobbish George?

Laced with humour throughout yet tempered to keep the plot captivating this book is honestly truly addictive and readers will love it.. irrespective of of their age. From a reading perspective I am sure this would appeal to any reader who had the stamina to open a Harry Potter book - and I would say it's more fun! Hoping to see the sequel sometime!

Publisher - Doubleday Children's

Genre - Children's paranormal adventure 

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All The Souls by Mary-Ann Constantine

 review by Maryom


'Stories of the living and the dead', it says on the cover -  and that sums up this otherworldly collection of nine short stories and a novella very neatly. Don't expect Hammer House of Horror ghostly goings on or vampires and zombies though - they're something far more subtle. They rather reminded me of the classic Curious, If True stories from Mrs Gaskell or, for a more modern take, Alois Hotschnig's collection, Maybe This Time, from Peirene Press.

Set mainly in remote reaches of Wales or Brittany, where old folk traditions linger on, by pools and ponds, the traditional gateways to the underworld, this is an unsettling, intriguing collection of stories. Ghosts speak to their still-living friends, a lonely man makes friends with a monk from the sixth century, from an undefined date in the future an old woman reminisces about the good old days when everyone drove cars...
I suspect these stories won't be everyone's cup of tea - they aren't simple, straightforward reads - but I rather liked them, though a couple were a little too enigmatic and vague for my liking.

Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Seren Books
Genre - adult literary fiction, folk tales

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Aldo Moon and the Ghost at Gravewood Hall by Alex Woolf

review by Maryom

Aldo Moon is an orphan, brought up in the London Foundling Hospital then adopted by the wealthy Carter family. They soon discover he has an unusual talent. Picking up 'ripples in the ether', he can sense things that others can't; sometimes he can predict an unexpected knock at the door or see an image of something that occurred in the past or is happening at that moment somewhere else.
When a friend of the family believes she has ghosts disturbing the peace of her house, Aldo is asked to investigate. Accompanied by his adoptive brother Nathan and his cousin Lily, he uncovers dark deeds and secrets hidden at Gravewood Hall.

Set in Victorian England, this book is a supernatural whodunnit  - a sort of cross between Sherlock Holmes and Ghostbusters. There are strange noises emanating from the cellar and the ghostly figure of a woman haunting the house and gardens but overall the feel is more of a detective novel than a terrifying ghost story. 
The trio of friends make an interesting investigative team - Aldo brings his supernatural intuition to bear on solving the mystery, Nathan is the 'muscle' and Lily the sceptical scientist.

Aimed at older children and young teens, the Ghost at Gravewood Hall is the first adventure for Aldo Moon and there'll be more to come.

Maryom's review - 4.5 stars
Publisher - Scribo Books
Genre - Children's, ghost stories, detective stories, 11+

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