John Harding

Rok 1891. Nová Anglie. Dvanáctiletá sirota Florence a její mladší bratr Giles, které jejich lhostejný poručník zanechal svému osudu, se toulají po chodbách chátrajícího novoanglického sídla. Po náhlé násilné smrti jejich guvernantky však přijíždí nová učitelka a začínají se dít podivné věci. Florence je přesvědčená, že musí za každou cenu zachránit bratříčka před mocným zlým duchem… Florence a Giles je mrazivou poctou románu Utažení šroubu od Henryho Jamese, se stejně skvěle vystavěným příběhem a velmi podmanivým vypravěčem, přesněji vypravěčkou: malá, předčasně vyspělá Florence je tajuplnou a znepokojivou postavou, která s vámi zaručeně zůstane ještě dlouho po dočtení poslední stránky. John Harding je autorem bestselleru What We Did On Our Holiday a dvou dalších vysoce ceněných románů. V současnosti píše do Daily Mail.

A sinister Gothic tale in the tradition of The Woman in Black and The Fall of the House of Usher New England, The 1890s When a young doctor begins work at an isolated mental asylum, he is expected to fall in with the shocking regime for treating the patients. He is soon intrigued by one patient, a strange amnesiac girl who is fascinated by books but cannot read. He embarks upon a desperate experiment to save her but when his own dark past begins to catch up with him, he realises it is she who is his only hope of escape. In this chilling literary thriller from a master storyteller, everyone has something to hide and no one is what they seem.

A sinister Gothic tale in the tradition of The Woman in Black and The Fall of the House of Usher 1891. In a remote and crumbling New England mansion, 12-year-old orphan Florence is neglected by her guardian uncle and banned from reading. Left to her own devices she devours books in secret and talks to herself - and narrates this, her story - in a unique language of her own invention. By night, she sleepwalks the corridors like one of the old house's many ghosts and is troubled by a recurrent dream in which a mysterious woman appears to threaten her younger brother Giles. Sometimes Florence doesn't sleepwalk at all, but simply pretends to so she can roam at will and search the house for clues to her own baffling past. After the sudden violent death of the children's first governess, a second teacher, Miss Taylor, arrives, and immediately strange phenomena begin to occur. Florence becomes convinced that the new governess is a vengeful and malevolent spirit who means to do Giles harm.Against this powerful supernatural enemy, and without any adult to whom she can turn for help, Florence must use all her intelligence and ingenuity to both protect her little brother and preserve her private world. Inspired by and in the tradition of Henry James' s The Turn of the Screw, Florence & Giles is a gripping gothic page-turner told in a startlingly different and wonderfully captivating narrative voice.

A sinister Gothic tale in the tradition of The Woman in Black and The Fall of the House of Usher New England, The 1890s When a young doctor begins work at an isolated mental asylum, he is expected to fall in with the shocking regime for treating the patients. He is soon intrigued by one patient, a strange amnesiac girl who is fascinated by books but cannot read. He embarks upon a desperate experiment to save her but when his own dark past begins to catch up with him, he realises it is she who is his only hope of escape. In this chilling literary thriller from a master storyteller, everyone has something to hide and no one is what they seem.