Ghost

Reviewed in The Observer, Telegraph, Financial Times and Irish Times; 'compelling', 'lyrical', 'superbly chilling', 'elegantly plotted', 'a tale of injustice, magic and redemption.'

What calls across the centuries to three girls drawn together to lay to rest an ancient evil in the woods?

60 AD
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 woods in search of refuge. She's at ease here with the changing seasons, the plants and animals, until one moonlit night, she senses Aine's terror. The blackbird calls a warning, but Sarah wants to help Aine's restless spirit.

Present day
Marie has dropped out of art college and is staying with her aunt for a while. 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.©2025 Finbar Hawkins (P)2025 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc