Maddy Deeprose has always been able to see the ghosts. She doesn’t mind them – she’s used to them now. In fact, she can’t remember a time without them. They’re just blurs which swoop through walls and leave a slight chill behind them, constantly hovering at the edges of Maddy’s vision.
But Maddy can’t share this secret with anyone as she swore on her mother’s life that she wouldn’t. But she hasn’t needed to. At least, until now.
Maddy is a pupil at Crowham Martyrs, a boarding school in the middle of nowhere full of old secrets and busy with ghosts. Maddy has always been pretty much invisible at Crowham Martyrs – she’s not popular and doesn’t admit to anything which might make her seem out of the ordinary. She keeps herself to herself, preferring to sleep in the attic room rather than on the same floor as her peers.
But this year, everything is changing. The composed and cheerful new girl Hannah thinks Maddy is cool and wants to be her friend. There’s a mysterious new boy called Caleb who she feels a strange bond with. And Maddy can hear weird groans and strange things start happening to her. What on earth is going on?
This book is tense, enthralling and unsettling all at once. There’s something very strange going on at Crowham Martyrs, and as the reader, I was very curious to find out what.
I think the book is aimed at slightly younger readers – perhaps from twelve years old and upwards. If you’re looking for an easy read but with a satisfying plot, then this is the book for you. Personally, I think the plot was good and I liked how it all came together at the end but I would have liked some more subtle hints to be dropped throughout the novel as it all seemed to be a bit sudden. Then again, that might be what you’d like to read, but I think that the action was relatively slow for about three quarters of the book and then it all suddenly sped up at the end and was abruptly over.
I really liked the setting of the novel though. I like how the boarding school was in the middle of nowhere and how Crowham Woods was so nearby. It was all very haunting and mysterious, which is good. The Crowham Martyrs was a good read which had me gripped.
The language is quite simple but imagery is still vivid and you can see the story unfolding in front of your eyes. It’s the type of book which I think might make a really good film. Definitely a worth a read.
-
Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop
