August 2010 Book of the Month.

This is an incredibly eerie and chilling story of 16 year old Meriel Garland who is trapped in her grandfather’s strict regime of study and silence.  It’s a narrow, solitary existence, yet Meriel doesn’t always feel alone for someone is reaching out to her from beyond the grave…This deliciously atmospheric tale of a young girl in Victorian London hides a terrible secret and as Meriel begins to search for the truth about her past she uncovers something too terrible to contemplate and realizes there is no one she can really trust…dead or alive.  Jane Eagland’s first novel, Wildthorn, which was inspired by true stories of women who were incarcerated in asylums in the nineteenth century was hugely successful and brilliantly reviewed.

Synopsis

Since she was twelve, Meriel Garland has lived with her grandfather in London, exiled from her beloved India following the death of her mother. Now sixteen, Meriel chafes against the strict regime of tests and study that her grandfather imposes on her. Escaping, she discovers a world outside her narrow existence - one that promises admiration for her acting skills, social success and the dark mysteries of seances. Disbelieving at first, she is drawn in when the young medium Sophie Casson passes on a message apparently from beyond the grave - and Meriel begins to suspect she might not be alone in the world after all. In searching for the truth about her past, Meriel uncovers a sinister scheme - and soon it's hard to know who she can really trust.

About the Author

Born firmly in the last century, too late to make the most of the swinging sixties, I was an 'Essex girl.' But I have lived in the north for so many years now, my loyalties and  ties are here. I have come late to taking my writing seriously. After teaching English in secondary schools for long enough, I decided something had to be done while there was still time. In my work, I'm a Jekyll and Hyde, veering between the lightness of stories for children, which I enjoy hugely, (my inner child is about four, I reckon) and fiction for adults, in which I seem to produce atmospheres of menace and unease.   Photo credit Jonathan Bean photo (litfest) More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation