"Traversing centuries, this chilling tale of old magic sees a trio of young women lay an ancient evil to rest across time."
Readers who relish witchy fiction, historic fiction and contemporary fiction are all likely to be spellbound by Finbar Hawkins’ Ghost - a beautifully suspenseful supernatural novel in which the episodic narrative is shared between three female voices.
Divided by centuries, the young women are united by loss, and their connections to ageless spirit magic and an ancient evil that must be laid to rest. In Britain in 60 AD, Aine flees her Roman enslavers, having previously seen a vision in water of “two girls, hands joined” and been issued with a task “to find what you have lost”. Then there’s Sarah, a healing witch who lives centuries later, in 1783, and discerns Aine’s fears through nature and a portentous blackbird. And it’s Sarah who feels a connection to present-day Marie while in the woods that unites all three characters: “There is old magick in this wood. It brought me here. It brought a lost spirit to me. And now to another witch. Each of us out of our time…I know what I will make for my new friend from the future”.
For her part, after dropping out of art school, eighteen-year-old Marie is staying with her aunt following the death of her beloved uncle. Having long “been drawn to all things supernatural”, and having seen supernatural presences since childhood, she now feels tragic histories and spirits from the past in “a stretch of woods known locally as…Sally in the Wood”.
Weaving a tapestry of wolves, long-horned beings bathed in goddess light, birds that serve as portals, and uncanny magic, Ghost casts a subtly chilling spell.
| Primary Genre | Young Adult Fiction |
| Other Genres: |
What calls across the centuries to three girls drawn together to lay to rest an ancient evil in the woods?
60AD
A blackbird calls a warning. Aine, a slave girl running away from her Roman masters, pauses to listen as she lifts a totemic, druid carving she's found in the tunnel where she's hiding. The last thing she sees is a tangle of matted fur, a sheaf of claws, a flash of fangs, as she unleashes a hungry animal presence.
1783 AD
Centuries later, white witch Sarah Gibson wanders the wood in search of refuge. She's at ease here with the changing seasons, the plants and animals, until one moonlit night, she senses Anna's terror. The blackbird calls a warning, but Sarah wants to help Anna's restless spirit.
Present day
Marie is furious when her twin, Ben, secures a place at art school and she doesn't. She is sent to 'cool off' at her aunt's. But the woods nearby are hiding something. Marie can feel it. She hears the local gossip about tragic happenings there. Hopelessly caught by the ghostly voices of the past that echo uneasily in her present, Marie must pit her wits against powerful old magic.
A chilling story of the supernatural with a touch of horror from Brandford Boase shortlisted, and Carnegie nominated author of Witch, perfect for Halloween or the winter months.
Ghost features in the following genres: Young Adult Fiction, Children’s / Teenage fiction: Thrillers / suspense, Children’s / Teenage fiction: Fantasy
Ghost is available in Hardback
Ghost was written by Finbar Hawkins and published by Zephyr an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing (UK)
Ghost has 227 pages
£13.49
