posted on 28 Feb 2023

The Ghosts of Craig Glas Castle by Michelle Briscombe

The Ghosts of Craig Glas Castle is a new adventure for Flora and Archie, who we first met in The House on March Lane. Young Flora lives with her father, Horace, who owns an antiques and salvage yard which just happens to be haunted – but Flora has found a way of coming to terms with her ability to communicate with the spirits who are reluctant to leave their worldly goods behind. Archie, who is a few years younger and is being fostered by Flora’s dad, is less at home with these, sometimes intrusive, vapours. However, between them all an equilibrium has been achieved that seems to keep everyone happy.

One day Flora’s dad gets an invitation to visit a stately home – Craig Glas Castle – to check out the antiques and furniture that needs to be sold as the castle is prepared for renovation and conversion to luxury flats. Horace, Archie and Flora pile into the company van and head off to the Gower peninsula in Wales where, as well as taking care of business, they plan to have a well-earned few days holiday.

But, of course, the best laid plans don’t always come to fruition. When they arrive they discover that the Craig Glas is huge and that there is no chance of seeing everything in just a day or so. They are also delighted to find that there are two welcoming hosts – husband and wife, Bleddyn and Marged – there to act as agents for the current owners.

And it’s not long before Flora and Archie start having encounters with the troubled ghosts of Craig Glas. Piecing together the history of the castle that Bleddyn and Marged are able to tell them, the children start to suspect that there is a mystery to solve that the ghosts are trying to draw to their attention.

As readers we are given a privileged insight into the past of the castle and the origins of the mystery by way of flashbacks to 1865 when the castle was at its peak of glory and was owned by a very famous, very rich and very kind opera singer, Madam Gomez. We meet the maids, the housekeeper and her daughter, Genevieve, who turns out to have a pivotal role to play in the mystery that Flora and Archie will have to solve in order to put the spirits to rest. When Madam Gomez makes an unwise decision to marry again, life at Craig Glas will never be the same again and the ramifications will echo down the years.

I hope it’s not a spoiler to say that the outcome of the mystery will have significant implications for Bleddyn and Marged and the fate of Craig Glas itself. I’m clearly not going to say any more about how the story plays itself out because you will want to read that for yourself but suffice it to say that the pace of the story never flags and you won’t want to put the book down until you’ve turned the final page.

Published by Candy Jar books and perfect for confident readers of 10+, you will be able to order the book from your local independent bookshop if they don’t have it in stock or order it directly from the publisher on this link.

 

Terry Potter

March 2023