A Ghost Story
by Diane Setterfield
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Release date: November 5, 2013
Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books
Genre: Ghosts, Historical
Hardback: 336 pages
Rating: 4
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ONE MOMENT IN TIME CAN HAUNT YOU FOREVER.
Caught up in a moment of boyhood competition, William Bellman recklessly aims his slingshot at a rook resting on a branch, killing the bird instantly. It is a small but cruel act, and is soon forgotten. By the time he is grown, with a wife and children of his own, William seems to have put the whole incident behind him. It was as if he never killed the thing at all. But rooks don’t forget . . .
Years later, when a stranger mysteriously enters William’s life, his fortunes begin to turn—and the terrible and unforeseen consequences of his past indiscretion take root. In a desperate bid to save the only precious thing he has left, he enters into a rather strange bargain, with an even stranger partner. Together, they found a decidedly macabre business.
And Bellman & Black is born.
My two-bits:
In-a-word(s): ajangle
Not so spooky a story, but one that sneaks a bit of creepiness into the peripheral senses.
Following the successful workaholic main character, Bellman, you get the gist of the inner workings of work at a mill and then later the beginnings and eventual success of a retail emporium that caters to as the description above says a "macabre business".
* review copy courtesy of publisher
* part of event: Ghostly Ghosts schedule