I have loved gothic and ghostly tales ever since my grandmother showed me a haunted house and told me stories about fairies and changelings. You can often find me browsing in vintage markets and bookshops searching for the perfect find. I have published two gothic middle-grade novels. Welcome To Dead Town is about 12-year-old Raven McKay, who is put into foster care in the town of Grave’s Pass when her parents disappear. But Grave’s Pass isn’t an ordinary town. It’s a town where the living and the dead live side by side. Read below to find out about the next book in the series.
I think Snicket’s wonderful series has all the classic ingredients of a Victorian gothic tale: orphans whose parents died in a fire, danger around every corner, sinister relatives, creepy and untrustworthy characters, and a dose of gloomy fun.
I loved the characters. The Baudelaire children Violet, Klaus, and Sunny are wonderfully drawn. The money-hungry, third-rate stage actor Count Olaf is a fantastic villain, so good I could read the series for him alone. I also loved the impending sense of doom in this book, the gothic setting, and the melodious and engaging prose.
Lemony Snicket's The Bad Beginning is the first book in the globally bestselling series A Series of Unfortunate Events. This exclusive gold foiled 20th anniversary hardback gift edition commemorates the miserable fact that every child in the world has wanted this brilliantly funny book for twenty years.
Perfect for fans of Roald Dahl and Mr Gum, young readers of 9 to 11 will adore the mischievously dark humour. Lemony Snicket's 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' has been made into a blockbuster Hollywood film starring Jim Carrey and is also a hit Netflix TV series. Now with new anniversary blurb by…
I was kept at the edge of my seat by the Night Gardener, who stalks the house at night, and by the twisted, magical tree that can grant wishes but can also twist them in such a way as to harm the wisher.
I adored the spine-chilling moments of suspense and intrigue as the siblings Molly and Kip try and overcome the tree and the Night Gardener. I thought the storytelling was so powerful, I felt a nightmare coming on.
Irish orphans Molly, 14, and Kip, 10, travel to England to work as servants in a crumbling manor house where nothing is quite what it seems, and soon the siblings are confronted by a mysterious stranger and the secrets of the cursed house. By the author of Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes.
Twelve-year-old identical twins Ellie and Kat accidentally trigger their physicist mom’s unfinished time machine, launching themselves into a high-stakes adventure in 1970 Chicago. If they learn how to join forces and keep time travel out of the wrong hands, they might be able find a way home. Ellie’s gymnastics and…
I loved this lyrical, finely-observed story and its many bloodcurdling moments. I felt nothing but sympathy and love for James Harrison as he settled into his new home in the village of Ledsham and was blamed for things he didn’t do.
The ghost of Thomas Kempe a 17th century apothecary truly haunts these pages and gave me a serious case of goosebumps. It’s also a gripping mystery as James tries to put the ghost to rest.
The classic ghost story from Penelope Lively, one of the modern greats of British fiction for adults and children alike.
James is fed up. His family has moved to a new cottage - with grounds that are great for excavations, and trees that are perfect for climbing - and stuff is happening. Stuff that is normally the kind of thing he does. And he's getting blamed for it. But it's not him who's writing strange things on shopping lists and fences. It's not him who smashes bottles and pours tea in the Vicar's lap. It's a ghost - honestly. Thomas…
I love the unsettling feeling of fear and menace from the opening page. I was immediately drawn into the world of Will Stanton on Midwinter’s Eve. Even neighbors and rooks are behaving strangely.
I didn’t know what to expect, but I felt something out of this world would happen. Nothing could have prepared me for the magic of the Old Ones and the evil forces of the Dark. I loved the snow, the family dynamics, the folklore, and Susan Cooper’s enthralling prose.
On the Midwinter Day that is his eleventh birthday, Will Stanton discovers a special gift-- that he is the last of the Old Ones, immortals dedicated to keeping the world from domination by the forces of evil, the Dark. At once, he is plunged into a quest for the six magical Signs that will one day aid the Old Ones in the final battle between the Dark and the Light. And for the twelve days of Christmas, while the Dark is rising, life for Will is full of wonder, terror, and delight.
Twelve-year-old identical twins Ellie and Kat accidentally trigger their physicist mom’s unfinished time machine, launching themselves into a high-stakes adventure in 1970 Chicago. If they learn how to join forces and keep time travel out of the wrong hands, they might be able find a way home. Ellie’s gymnastics and…
This book is definitely one of my favorites. It has everything I love in a gothic children’s book: orphans, evil governesses, stolen inheritances, cruel orphanages, cool secret passages, and courage. It also has the eerie setting of a grand English estate.
The three wicked adults, Letitia Slighcarp, Josiah Grimshaw, and Mrs Brisket, gave me proper villain chills. I was with Bonnie every step of the way as she tried to overcome the greedy villains. I loved the air of menace in this novel. The wicked wolves, the landscape, and the menacing governess stayed in my head long after I turned the last page.
1832 - a period of English History that never happened. Good King James III is on the throne and the country is ravaged by wolves which have migrated through the newly-opened Channel Tunnel. When Sylvia and Bonnie (both orphans) fall into the hands of evil Miss Slighcarp, they must use all their wits to escape unscathed - for the governess is more cruel and merciless than the wolves that surround the great house of Willoughby Chase.
Rosella has just started a new school in the eerie town of Black Gables, where crows croak menacingly and pale faces appear in the green waters of the lake just behind the school. There are dark tales of children who have disappeared.
Under the watchful eye of her new headmaster, Mr Edge—whose unsettling presence and appearance hint at something very dark beneath the surface—Rosella tries to decipher what's going on. And what she discovers is mind-blowing. Can she defeat the world's creepiest teachers?
