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UK Authors - Sci-fi & fantasy |
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The Ghosts of Candleford |
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| The Ghosts of Candleford by Mike Jeffries Harper Collins 249 pages, 1999 ISBN 0006482082 Reviewed by our UK Editor Rachel A. Hyde Hollis Calvin’s father has just died, and Hollis is sorting though his father’s possessions when he finds a packet of letters belonging to his grandfather Merris. They tell of American Serviceman Merris’ wartime posting to Norfolk, England and his stay in the remote Fenland village of Candleford. Strange things are going on. Are the people he glimpses dressed in robes and masks just having a fancy dress party or is something more sinister going on? The villagers talk of Black Shuck, the ghostly black dog who roams the Fens by night - even a glimpse means certain death. And who or what are the Lanterns? The letters stop abruptly in February 1943 with the disappearance of Merris and his two friends. Now his grandson has found something even stranger - a photograph with not only these three people but also his father, himself and a strange young woman. Hollis feels that he just has to find out what is going on and departs immediately for England to unravel the mystery. Sinister isolated villages, eerie Fenland marshes, legends and hints of black magic - it is all here in Jefferies’ admirably atmospheric and well-paced novel that glides along as smoothly as a sheeted specter. You can almost smell the dank marshlands and hear the mournful cries of waterfowl and more supernatural creatures in this excellent ghost story written in the grand old tradition of M. R. James and Conan Doyle. I also enjoyed the amusing asides as Hollis finds himself at sea in the maze of British roads and wondering why people seem to overtake each other for fun! One to savor by a crackling fireside on a winter night. |
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