Skip to main content

Author Guest Post from Sarah Naughton

Hello! Today I have an awesome blog post from the author of The Hanged Man Rises, Sarah Naughton, talking about ghosts! Do you believe in ghosts, and can you still be scared of things you don't believe in?

__________

The Hanged Man RisesWhen their parents are killed in a fire, Titus Adams and his little sister Hannah are left to fend for themselves in the cruel and squalid slums of Victorian London. Taking shelter with his friend and saviour, Inspector Pilbury, Titus should feel safe. But though the inspector has just caught and hung a notorious child-murderer, the murders haven't stopped. Now everyone is a suspect, even the inspector himself, and unless Titus can find a way to end the killings, he will lose all that is dear to him.
For this evil cannot be contained, even by death.


__________

The Hanged Man Rises is my first book and it’s about two of my favourite things: London and ghosts. 
London’s an old city and it has a lot of ghosts: you’re walking their streets, travelling on their tube trains, meeting in their inns: you can feel them swishing past you down Regent Street in their crinolines, hear them shouting to one another in the echoing halls of Smithfield market, imagine the black feet of the slum children pattering through the alleys of the old city.
But that’s metaphorical ghosts.
When it comes to real ones, I’m a total skeptic.
Even though my house bangs and creaks, and whispers and little feet go scampering up and down stairs when the kids are at school.  Even when things go missing and then reappear in the place I’ve looked 50 times.  Even though my friend sees the former, dead, occupant of her house still sitting in the armchair in the corner.  I still don’t believe.
Because as Derren Brown will tell you, everything has a rational explanation. 
Researching the book I read about all the tricks of the trade that bogus mediums (i.e. all mediums) used in the Victorian era, from secret trapdoors to fake hands that could be used in séances so that no-one would know the circle had been broken.  It was pretty disappointing because, you see, I really want to believe.
I’d love it if my granddad (who I based Titus on) was still puffing away on his cigar on my sofa.  There are things I wish I’d said to people, other things I wish I could take back.  I’d like to come back myself at some point (in the very distant future) and stamp muddy footprints over my kids’ carpet or leave Lego where its certain to cripple them as they get out of bed.  If spirits walk because they have unfinished business, then I’m going to make damn sure that when my time comes I haven’t completed my tax return or I’ve left the iron on.  Just in case.
But somebody once said that you don’t have to believe in ghosts to be scared of them.  And I do love being scared of them.  I immerse myself in ghost stories and horror films.  I must have seen The Exorcist twenty times (each time with my fingers in my ears and my eyes squeezed shut), and one of my favourite books is Dark Matter by Michelle Paver, which terrified me so much I couldn’t stay in the house on my own.
I really hope The Hanged Man Rises scares you, because I’m guessing if you picked it up then, like me, you want to be scared.
But when you put it down, turn off your bedside light and scrunch down into your duvet, you can comfort yourself with the knowledge that the creaking of the stairs is just the wood expanding, the tapping in the attic is just the water-pipes, and that shadow in the doorway is just your dressing gown hanging on the hook. 
Because ghosts really don’t exist, do they?  I mean, come on…
__________
Huge thanks to Sarah for that! So, do you or don't you believe in ghosts? Do you like to scare yourself too? I love watching scary movies, but only as long as I've got a cushion by my side to hide behind! Let us know in the comments, we'd love to hear your thoughts.

Have you read The Hanged Man Rises, or would you like to? It's really really good, I definitely recommend that you do! My review will be posted here on the blog soon, and you can buy yourself a copy of the book from these places:

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

REVIEW: A Sky Painted Gold by Laura Wood

Hello all! Hope you're all enjoying the summer! I'm currently on holiday in a huge castle in the South of France and enjoying relaxing, playing games, and of course reading a lot!  Today's post is a review of a dreamy summer romance that's perfect for your holiday TBRs! Title:  A Sky Painted Gold Author:  Laura Wood Series:   n/a Pages:   356 Publisher:  Scholastic Date of Publication:  5th July, 2018 Source:  Publisher for review* Synopsis from Goodreads: Growing up in her sleepy Cornish village dreaming of being a writer, sixteen-year-old Lou has always wondered about the grand Cardew house which has stood empty for years. And when the owners arrive for the summer - a handsome, dashing brother and sister - Lou is quite swept off her feet and into a world of moonlit cocktail parties and glamour beyond her wildest dreams. But, as she grows closer to the Cardews, is she abandoning her own ambitions... And is there something darker lurking at the

Book Review: Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Title: Where She Went Author: Gayle Forman Series: If I Stay #2 Pages: 260 Publisher: Random House Date of UK Publication: April 28th 2011 Source: Borrowed from friend Synopsis from Goodreads: It's been three years since the devastating accident . . . three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life forever. Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Juilliard's rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore the city that has become Mia's home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future and each other. Told from Adam's point of view in the spare, lyrical prose that defined If I Stay, Where She Went explores the devastation of grief, the promise of new hope, and the flame of rekindled romance. My Thoughts: Where She Went continues the story from If I

REVIEW: Floored by Sara Barnard, Holly Bourne, Tanya Byrne, Non Pratt, Melinda Salisbury, Lisa Williamson, and Eleanor Wood

Good morning! Hope you're having a good week! Today I have a review for one of the biggest titles at YALC this year. Title:  Floored Author:  Sara Barnard, Holly Bourne, Tanya Byrne, Non Pratt, Melinda Salisbury, Lisa Williamson, and Eleanor Wood Series:  n/a Pages:   320 Publisher:  Macmillan Date of Publication:  12th July, 2018 Synopsis from Goodreads: When they got in the lift, they were strangers (though didn't that guy used to be on TV?): Sasha, who is desperately trying to deliver a parcel; Hugo, who knows he's the best-looking guy in the lift and is eyeing up Velvet, who knows what that look means when you hear her name and it doesn't match the way she looks, or the way she talks; Dawson, who was on TV, but isn't as good-looking as he was a few years ago and is desperately hoping no one recognizes him; Kaitlyn, who's losing her sight but won't admit it, and who used to have a poster of Dawson on her bedroom wall, and Joe, who shoul