Shadowhall Academy : Ghost Story Society

13 Feb

Fans of a murder mystery, fans of a spine-chilling supernatural thriller, fans of a girls boarding school drama, super fans of Phil Hickes’s ‘Aveline Jones’ series - your desperate wait for what to read next is over! ‘Shadowhall Academy : Ghost Story Society’ is book 2 in Phil Hickes’s second middle grade series for ages 9+ published by Usborne where readers are transported back to the golden era of cool - the 1980s. We had Walkmans, pay phones, Inspector Morse, and, Cagney and Lacey to distract us from the Cold War, and other mega-global disasters. I have to admit, I too was at an old fashioned style boarding school in the middle of nowhere in the 80s, and Phil - you’ve done it again - it’s a pure carbon copy of experiences. How do you do it? I love it!

‘Shadowhall Academy : Ghost Story Society’ is perfect-timing-publishing, as the schoolgirls are returning in midwinter for the start of the Spring Term. This exciting new adventure follows Lilian (Aveline Jones’s mother) and her now firmly established gang of friends at her new boarding school, Shadowhall Academy in Suffolk, England - Serena (posh yuppie), Marian (The Cure-loving goth), and Angela (anxious homely nerd). Lilian? Well, she’s very gutsy, kinda ‘act-first-think-later’, 100% loyal, and a brilliant detective.

One Saturday night, the girls head to the old school library after lights out. The atmosphere is just right, almost midnight, the room dimly lit, rain pouring down the windows, it’s the first meeting of the newly formed and secret ‘Ghost Story Society’. However, as with most dorm escapes in the middle of the night, you inevitably get caught… it’s just a case of who catches you as to how disastrous the punishment will be. They haven’t even got into their spooky storytelling and a prefect rumbles them, except, thankfully, the punishment isn’t bad at all… she’s got a supernatural story to tell.

As in book 1 ‘Shadowhall Academy : The Whispering Walls’, yet again Shadowhall Academy reveals itself to be a place filled with mysterious tragedies in its past. 20 years ago, which would be the 1960s, the drama teacher at the time was putting on a school production of ‘Macbeth’ - a passionate theatre-buff, she managed to find a rather wonderful addition for the prop collection - a ‘witch book’. What Mrs Kehoe had thought to be a harmless second hand literary gem turned out to be something quite the opposite! But where was it now? How can a book be the cause of some of the most scary and fateful disasters the school has ever known leaving the drama teacher a jibbering wreck, removed from the school forevermore?

Epic! A new mystery to solve! Lilian and her gal pals plot like crazy to discover the whereabouts of this ‘witch book’, even if it means they have to join the drama group. Luckily the school paper ‘The Sentinel’ has records they can search for clues in too.

Of course they find it, of course they open it, of course the lure of what turns out to be a ‘Book of Secrets’ that once belonged to an ancient powerful witch is too much to bear. One by one the girls test out the book, ending up cursed by their very own admissions. Lilian’s secret detestation of carrots leading to the school dinner menu courses all featuring variations of carrot dishes is an amusing magical twist, but Serena’s secret leading her to be covered head to toe in tiny spiders is super-scary. Lilian needs to get rid of this dark magical book, because it has a life of its own, and the more important the secret the more dire the consequences. Warnings from Angela go unheeded, temptation is too much and Lilian goes a step too far - she writes a mega secret in the book about her childhood imaginary friend, Miss Sunshine… (think Miss *age-appropriate* Psycho Poltergeist). Lilian!!!!!!!! What have you done!!!!!!!

The key to Miss Sunshine’s existence is the book and it must be destroyed - evil from a book that must be destroyed… profound! BUT, how do you destroy an indestructible book?

Whatever happens, as long as the girls survive, they’ve got an immense story for their next meeting of the Ghost Story Society and the Shadowhall Sentinel. There’s a delicious bookish quote in the story too:

“They would snuggle beneath the blankets and let their books and dreams take them to more exciting places.”

Absolutely spot on.

At 169 pages, this isn’t a heavy-weight book for children to read. It’s a creepy, fun page-turner of a story best read at bedtime with the lights down low, or curled up on the sofa on a rainy afternoon with the fire on. Also a wonderful story to read together with your child - why not share your thoughts and theories with every plot twist (and your adrenaline-fuelled spooky feelings)?

‘Shadowhall Academy : Ghost Story Society’ is SO great. Love the cover artwork from the brilliant Keith Robinson. Perfect for fans of spooky mysteries, boarding school adventures, and stories with a touch of 80s nostalgia. Filled with problem-solving, team-work, friendship highs and lows, sneaking about and bending a few rules, I can’t wait for book 3!