A chilling, gothic ghost story in which a single mother moves into a crumbling Victorian house with her teenage daughter, but soon realises their new home is haunted by the ghost of a young albino girl who performed in Victorian freak shows. It's Laura Purcell's The Silent Companions meets Alice Hoffman's The Museum of Extraordinary Things.
Following the break-up of a controlling marriage, single mother Nell moves into the crumbling Victorian Merry Hall with her teenage daughter, Fern. She's determined to make a new life but the noises, moving objects, and strange smells in her new home make her increasingly unsettled.
In the 1840s, showman Abel Wenham seduces Dolly, a talented albino girl and makes her the star of his performing collection of 'freaks'. But after she becomes pregnant with his child, he discards her and imprisons her at Merry Hall, where her only solace is the company of fellow performers Ada the Bear Lady and the Jack the Posturer. They plan to escape with Dolly and her child and set up in business, but Wenham has other ideas.
When Fern admits she, too, is pregnant, it seems as though history may be about to repeat itself. But is Dolly, just one of the ghosts that haunt Merry Hall, reaching out across the centuries to protect her own child?
- ISBN10 1835413110
- ISBN13 9781835413111
- Publish Date 16 September 2025
- Publish Status Forthcoming
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Titan Books Ltd
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 384
- Language English
- URL https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781835413111