The Ghost Garden

Queen of historical fiction Emma Carroll makes her Barrington Stoke debut with a powerful, evocative, and spine-tingling story of childhood on the brink of war.

Summer, 1914. When Fran uncovers a bone in the garden of Longbarrow House on the same afternoon that Leo breaks his leg, it is just the first in a series of strange and unsettling coincidences.

Leo is left immobilised for the rest of the summer and Fran is roped in to keep him company, forced to listen to his foolish theories about the looming threat of war in Europe. Suddenly the garden she has loved all her life seems to hold threatening shadows of the future, and Fran starts to fear what she and Leo might find next …

Particularly suitable for readers aged 9+ with a reading age of 8.

Reviews

"Carroll writes simply and meaningfully; there’s not a weed in her word garden … Perfect for now but also, if I may predict, built to stand the test of time" – The Times Children's Book of the Week

"Creepy and compelling mystery with ghosts, premonitions and history – great stuff" – Peter Bunzl

"Deliciously spooky" – LoveReading4Kids

"Another corker from Emma Carroll … A gorgeously spooky tale threaded with superstition" – Michelle Harrison

"An atmosphere of mystery and magic reminiscent of The Secret Garden" – Read for Good

About the author

Emma Carroll is the bestselling and award-winning children’s author of Secrets of a Sun King, When We Were Warriors and the BAMB Readers Award winner Letters from the Lighthouse. She previously worked as a secondary school English teacher and has an MA in Writing for Young People from Bath University.