I have been fascinated by the paranormal since I was young: always a lover of ghost stories, I have long felt the spiritual resonance in certain places; the energy and spirits of the past remain trapped within the fabric of certain buildings and the land, waiting for the sensitive to come along. I developed this passion by reading classic and modern-day ghost stories, going on ghost tours, and visiting haunted places. I listen to and record people recounting their experiences of real-life encounters. I write nonfiction books about the paranormal, specifically about Shakespeare’s ghosts and spirits in his county of Warwickshire, and novels that develop this theme.
I felt this story reaching out into my thoughts and my life while I was reading it, so I couldn’t wait to get back to it, and in this unsettling weirdness lies its power. I was utterly gripped by the author’s slow build-up of fear, grief, and madness in the family; I felt haunted by the house's invisible ‘something bad.’ I had to get back to this story at every opportunity, and I would wake up thinking about the characters and wondering what would happen to them.
After her award-winning trilogy of Victorian novels, Sarah Waters turned to the 1940s and wrote THE NIGHT WATCH, a tender and tragic novel set against the backdrop of wartime Britain. Shortlisted for both the Orange and the Man Booker, it went straight to number one in the bestseller chart. In a dusty post-war summer in rural Warwickshire, a doctor is called to a patient at Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for over two centuries, the Georgian house, once grand and handsome, is now in decline, its masonry crumbling, its gardens choked with weeds, the clock in its stable…
I imagined myself in the desolate place on the Essex coast where the main protagonist had gone, and I felt an invidious sense of dread as the atmosphere built up. The air of supernatural menace seems to breathe out of this story: the threat and the fear crept into me as if I were there myself, knowing something terrifying would happen, willing the main protagonist to get out and save themselves but knowing that I, just like them, would be held fast by those invisible and supernatural tentacles.
Don't miss this stunning novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Lady of Hay - a gripping tale of secrets, betrayal and revenge...
After a broken love affair, biographer Kate Kennedy retires to a remote cottage on the wild Essex coast to work on her new book, until her landlord's daughter uncovers a Roman site nearby and long-buried passions are unleashed...
In her lonely cottage, Kate is terrorized by mysterious forces. What do these ghosts want? Should the truth about the violent events of long ago be exposed or remain concealed? Kate must struggle for her life against earthbound…
I felt this was one of the creepiest tales I have ever read. Its creepiness penetrated my own mind with its portrayal of perverse behavior among the living, the increasingly deranged mental state of the main protagonist, and the fervor of the Goligher Circle as they purported to contact the dead.
Pity and terror combine in this story; my empathy was with those they lured, drawn by their grief and despair. Primitive emotions are stirred up by the threat of supernatural danger; I felt shocked by the ingenious plot twist near the end.
'A fiendishly clever tale of ambition, deception, and power' DERREN BROWN
Belfast, 1914. Two years after the sinking of the Titanic, high society has become obsessed with spiritualism, attending seances in the hope they might reach their departed loved ones.
William Jackson Crawford is a man of science and a sceptic, but one night with everyone sitting around the circle, voices come to him - seemingly from beyond the veil - placing doubt in his heart and a seed of obsession in his mind. Could the spirits truly be communicating with him or is this one of Kathleen's parlour tricks…
I found this story enchanting. It utterly gripped me throughout with its compelling atmosphere of mystery, sheer horror and creepiness, and fascination with the idea of spirit photography. I felt captivated by the two main female characters and their developing intimate, emotional, and tense relationship.
My heart and soul were with these two women and the author’s beautiful craftsmanship weaving through the characters and story an intelligent and powerful debate about life after death.
A moving, compelling story about three women fighting to break free, from the Richard & Judy recommended bestselling author Julie Cohen.
'Haunting, tender and true - this story cast a spell on me' Kirsty Logan 'Wonderfully written and evocative' Woman & Home, BOOK OF THE MONTH 'This haunting story about the power of love will give you the shivers' Best
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Viola has an impossible talent. Searching for meaning in her grief, she uses her photography to feel closer to her late father, taking solace from the skills he taught her - and to keep her distance from her husband.…
I felt a powerful sense of tragic history and increasing pity and fear as this story progressed with its brooding, fateful, gothic atmosphere and hints of the supernatural in a gloomy, coastal house in Ireland. I became swept up by the gathering intensity and intrigue and the multiple shocks that arise from the main protagonist’s discoveries. I was absorbed in this compelling, thought-provoking story and captivated by its ingenious plot.
A gripping mystery with a classic feel, for fans of Agatha Christie
'Haunting and exquisitely written. Part intricate mystery and part ghost story. This book will stay with me for a long time' Anna Mazzola
'A stunning book, beautifully written' Ann Cleeves
The drive leads past the gate house and through the trees towards the big house, visible through the winter-bared branches. Its windows stare down at Harkin and the sea beyond . . .
January 1921. Though the Great War is over, in Ireland a new, civil war is raging. The once-grand Kilcolgan House, a crumbling bastion shrouded in…
A little girl lost. An ill-omened spiritual healer. A raven with its eye on a prize.
A Passionate Spirit is a modern gothic novel set in the present-day Cotswolds. Zoe is an idealistic young woman who leads a creative retreat with her priest husband and suspects a beautiful and mysterious guest of evil intentions. Only when the eerie visitor seduces the priest and all the guests with miracle healings does our heroine unmask this High Priestess and find herself forced to confront awesome supernatural power. She must risk death if she is to save the sanity of them all.
Kelly Simmons has been published in 12 countries by Simon & Schuster and Sourcebooks, and her widely praised novels are frequently compared to Big Little Lies.
Her new book, The Off Season, is set on the tranquil shores of the Chesapeake Bay, where headstrong thirteen-year-old Savannah bursts into the local police department, insisting her mother’s drowning was anything but an accident. She’s forced to tangle with the languid Bay police department as well as the year-rounder adults and teens who might be complicit not just in her mother’s death but a decades-old cold case.
For fans of Lisa Jewell and Liane Moriarty. Published in 12 countries by Simon & Schuster and Sourcebooks, Kelly's widely praised novels are frequently compared to BIG LITTLE LIES.
THE OFF SEASON explodes on the tranquil shores of the Chesapeake Bay. A headstrong thirteen-year-old girl insists her mother’s drowning was anything but an accident. She’s forced to tangle with the languid bay police department as well as the year-rounder adults and teens who might be complicit not just in her mother’s death, but a decades-old cold case. With echoes of GONE GIRL and STAND BY ME, it’s part crime, part…
