GHOST by Helen Grant
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Synopsis
Langlands House is haunted, but not by the ghost you think.
Augusta McAndrew lives on a remote Scottish estate with her grandmother, Rose. For her own safety, she hides from outsiders, as she has done her entire life. Visitors are few and far between - everyone knows that Langlands House is haunted.
One day Rose goes out and never returns, leaving Augusta utterly alone. Then Tom McAllister arrives - good-looking and fascinating, but dangerous. What he has to tell her could tear her whole world apart.
As Tom and Augusta become ever closer, they must face the question: is love enough to overcome the ghosts of the past?
In the end, Langlands House and its inhabitants hold more secrets than they did in the beginning...
Hi Helen, welcome to my blog ! I love Gothic romance – I think I've read every Victoria Holt novel there is! What writers influenced you, if any?
Hi Jennifer! I love Gothic romance too. One of my favourite recent films was Crimson Peak. I just love the allure of grand but crumbling houses!
I'm not sure any particular writers influenced me when I was writing Ghost. I definitely don't try to emulate any other writer. But I am a big fan of Gothic fiction in general. Jane Eyre has always been one of my favourite books. I love anything a bit creepy, and a bit mysterious, and I really love a big reveal! There are a few of those in Ghost.
What gave you the idea for your book? And what do you like to do when you're not writing?
I'm going to answer these two questions together because they sort of go together! I've got a passion for researching the lost country houses of Scotland; it's a topic that really fascinates me. In the 1800s many wealthy people built these enormous mansion houses that later became far too expensive and impractical to run. Sometimes they were later used as schools or hospitals but eventually many of them were abandoned. Some of them were demolished – or even blown up! – but some are just sitting there, slowly crumbling away into ruins. I have visited the sites of some of these houses. It's both exciting and eerie to see the remains of these grand buildings. Sometimes there is still glass in some of the windows, or some of the timber is still there.
I'm always very careful when I'm visiting anywhere like that. I don't go inside anything that looks as though it might collapse! And I never take anything away with me, except photographs.
There was one mansion that I visited which was supposedly knocked down in the 1960s, but it never actually was pulled down. That made me think: supposing there was a house like this, forgotten in the middle of a forest somewhere, but with all the contents intact? Who would be hiding themselves away in there, and why? And that was what inspired the story of Ghost.
My other hobbies include wild swimming. I swim outdoors (without a wetsuit) between May and October. There isn't any wild swimming in Ghost, but there is a moment where someone puts their feet in freezing cold sea water, and they start to feel numb in about one minute. That is definitely based on personal experience…
Who are your favorite authors?
I like a lot of the classic authors. A big favourite of mine is Wilkie Collins. He has some of the most outrageous plot lines ever, and some brilliant characters. My favourite is probably Ralph, the brother of the hero of Basil. He has worked abroad as a diplomat and consequently he can swear fluently in five different languages. He has a travelling library of dubious French novels which he keeps locked up with a golden key, and he will have nothing to drink in the morning except hot chocolate. I think Ralph deserves a novel all of his own!
My favourite living writer is John Ajvide Lindqvist, the Swedish author of Let the Right One In. I think he goes to the places that other authors don't. I really loved his book Handling the Undead, which is about what happens when all the people who died within a particular time frame suddenly come back to life. So you could say that it's a zombie novel, except it's not about the horror of people shambling about trying to bite each other. The real horror is having a lost loved one back in such a damaged state; wouldn't it be better just to let them go? Like some of his other work, it is intensely moving. I've read it twice and both times I cried at the end.
Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?
Well, I do carry out quite a bit of "desk research" but actually I like to go out and look at things, and experience things for myself. Most of the locations in my books are based on places that I have really visited. For a previous novel, Urban Legends, I wanted to set a scene in the sewers, so I visited the Brussels sewers and the Paris sewers. It's partly about getting the details right but it's also about feeling the experience of being there. I want to be able to describe what it's like with the conviction of really knowing. One of the things that surprised me about the Brussels sewers was hearing this strange rumbling noise – it was the sound of underground trains passing by. If I hadn't been there and heard it myself, I don't think I would have thought of that.
Over the years, I've got into the habit of visiting places that I think will be atmospheric, and using it as a way of generating ideas. A creepy location is a bit like an empty stage set; I can imagine the type of drama that might unfold there.
What was one of the most surprising things you learned when you were writing your book?
Well, maybe I've already answered this question to a certain extent, but I think the thing that most surprised me was the extravagant scale of some of the country houses built in the 1800s. I remember reading about one that was so grand that it was impractical to live in, and was eventually demolished without the family ever having moved in! I think it's quite hard nowadays to realise just how wealthy the owners must have been to have these places built, and then employ all the domestic staff and gardeners to run them. And we're not talking about one house here or there. There were a lot of these places. It's a lifestyle I can't really imagine.
There was one big house (now long vanished) not very far from where I live, that had beautiful ornamental gardens with fountains. Considering how rugged the landscape is, it's mind boggling to think how much work that must have been to create and maintain…
Any last words for your readers?
If you've read Ghost: thank you! The story is not told until someone listens.
Thank you so much for stopping by!
You're most welcome!
Hi Jennifer! I love Gothic romance too. One of my favourite recent films was Crimson Peak. I just love the allure of grand but crumbling houses!
I'm not sure any particular writers influenced me when I was writing Ghost. I definitely don't try to emulate any other writer. But I am a big fan of Gothic fiction in general. Jane Eyre has always been one of my favourite books. I love anything a bit creepy, and a bit mysterious, and I really love a big reveal! There are a few of those in Ghost.
What gave you the idea for your book? And what do you like to do when you're not writing?
I'm going to answer these two questions together because they sort of go together! I've got a passion for researching the lost country houses of Scotland; it's a topic that really fascinates me. In the 1800s many wealthy people built these enormous mansion houses that later became far too expensive and impractical to run. Sometimes they were later used as schools or hospitals but eventually many of them were abandoned. Some of them were demolished – or even blown up! – but some are just sitting there, slowly crumbling away into ruins. I have visited the sites of some of these houses. It's both exciting and eerie to see the remains of these grand buildings. Sometimes there is still glass in some of the windows, or some of the timber is still there.
I'm always very careful when I'm visiting anywhere like that. I don't go inside anything that looks as though it might collapse! And I never take anything away with me, except photographs.
There was one mansion that I visited which was supposedly knocked down in the 1960s, but it never actually was pulled down. That made me think: supposing there was a house like this, forgotten in the middle of a forest somewhere, but with all the contents intact? Who would be hiding themselves away in there, and why? And that was what inspired the story of Ghost.
My other hobbies include wild swimming. I swim outdoors (without a wetsuit) between May and October. There isn't any wild swimming in Ghost, but there is a moment where someone puts their feet in freezing cold sea water, and they start to feel numb in about one minute. That is definitely based on personal experience…
Who are your favorite authors?
I like a lot of the classic authors. A big favourite of mine is Wilkie Collins. He has some of the most outrageous plot lines ever, and some brilliant characters. My favourite is probably Ralph, the brother of the hero of Basil. He has worked abroad as a diplomat and consequently he can swear fluently in five different languages. He has a travelling library of dubious French novels which he keeps locked up with a golden key, and he will have nothing to drink in the morning except hot chocolate. I think Ralph deserves a novel all of his own!
My favourite living writer is John Ajvide Lindqvist, the Swedish author of Let the Right One In. I think he goes to the places that other authors don't. I really loved his book Handling the Undead, which is about what happens when all the people who died within a particular time frame suddenly come back to life. So you could say that it's a zombie novel, except it's not about the horror of people shambling about trying to bite each other. The real horror is having a lost loved one back in such a damaged state; wouldn't it be better just to let them go? Like some of his other work, it is intensely moving. I've read it twice and both times I cried at the end.
Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?
Well, I do carry out quite a bit of "desk research" but actually I like to go out and look at things, and experience things for myself. Most of the locations in my books are based on places that I have really visited. For a previous novel, Urban Legends, I wanted to set a scene in the sewers, so I visited the Brussels sewers and the Paris sewers. It's partly about getting the details right but it's also about feeling the experience of being there. I want to be able to describe what it's like with the conviction of really knowing. One of the things that surprised me about the Brussels sewers was hearing this strange rumbling noise – it was the sound of underground trains passing by. If I hadn't been there and heard it myself, I don't think I would have thought of that.
Over the years, I've got into the habit of visiting places that I think will be atmospheric, and using it as a way of generating ideas. A creepy location is a bit like an empty stage set; I can imagine the type of drama that might unfold there.
What was one of the most surprising things you learned when you were writing your book?
Well, maybe I've already answered this question to a certain extent, but I think the thing that most surprised me was the extravagant scale of some of the country houses built in the 1800s. I remember reading about one that was so grand that it was impractical to live in, and was eventually demolished without the family ever having moved in! I think it's quite hard nowadays to realise just how wealthy the owners must have been to have these places built, and then employ all the domestic staff and gardeners to run them. And we're not talking about one house here or there. There were a lot of these places. It's a lifestyle I can't really imagine.
There was one big house (now long vanished) not very far from where I live, that had beautiful ornamental gardens with fountains. Considering how rugged the landscape is, it's mind boggling to think how much work that must have been to create and maintain…
Any last words for your readers?
If you've read Ghost: thank you! The story is not told until someone listens.
Thank you so much for stopping by!
You're most welcome!
Author Bio
Helen Grant writes thrillers with a Gothic flavour and ghost stories. Her first novel, The Vanishing of Katharina Linden, was shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal and won an ALA Alex Award in the US. Her other books include the exciting Forbidden Spaces trilogy.
Helen's latest novel Ghost (Fledgling Press 2018) is set in Perthshire, where she has lived since 2011. When she is not writing, Helen loves to research the lost country houses of Scotland and to visit the sites where possible. Her experiences of exploring these fascinating places inspired her to write Ghost.
Authors Twitter: @Helengrantsays
Publishers Twitter: @FledglingPress
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