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Grounded Spirits
Grounded Spirits is a new offering from author PD Martin, whose first five crime fiction novels have been published in 13 countries to date.
Grounded Spirits is part ghost story, part mystery and part historical fiction—set in Ireland in both the current day and the 1820s. With a teenage central character, Grounded Spirits will appeal to teen readers as well as adults.
Fiona Thomas is sick of trekking after her father on his business trips—but with her options anything but open, she finds herself in Ireland. As usual, she’s thoroughly bored within minutes. But when she comes face to face with what appears to be a haunted painting—and a haunted hotel—her boredom quickly disappears. Captivated by the tortured looking face in the painting, Fiona sets out to solve the mystery. Who owns the face and how did they die?
Fiona discovers Ireland of the 1820s—a world where New English landlords rule over the Irish inhabitants. Things get complicated for one local Irish girl, Caitriona O Flaherty, when she falls in love with her da’s landlord.
Note: This story is based on a real hotel in Ennis, Ireland, that is rumored to be haunted. The painting described in the story does, indeed, exist—a photograph of the tortured face is included in the book and that face appears on the book's cover.
Grounded Spirits is part ghost story, part mystery and part historical fiction—set in Ireland in both the current day and the 1820s. With a teenage central character, Grounded Spirits will appeal to teen readers as well as adults.
Fiona Thomas is sick of trekking after her father on his business trips—but with her options anything but open, she finds herself in Ireland. As usual, she’s thoroughly bored within minutes. But when she comes face to face with what appears to be a haunted painting—and a haunted hotel—her boredom quickly disappears. Captivated by the tortured looking face in the painting, Fiona sets out to solve the mystery. Who owns the face and how did they die?
Fiona discovers Ireland of the 1820s—a world where New English landlords rule over the Irish inhabitants. Things get complicated for one local Irish girl, Caitriona O Flaherty, when she falls in love with her da’s landlord.
Note: This story is based on a real hotel in Ennis, Ireland, that is rumored to be haunted. The painting described in the story does, indeed, exist—a photograph of the tortured face is included in the book and that face appears on the book's cover.
167 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 11, 2012
5 people are currently reading
47 people want to read
About the author
Pippa Dee
4 booksPippa Dee is a new pen name for PD Martin, whose five crime fiction novels have been published to international acclaim in 13 countries. To date, she's published two fantasy/YA novels--The Wanderer (book 1 in a trilogy) and Grounded Spirits (standalone YA historical fiction/paranormal).
Pippa Dee (a nickname of the author’s full name, Phillipa Deanne Martin) loved story-telling and fantasy worlds from an early age. When she was younger, she was often found staring into nothingness—day dreaming about magic and other fantastical worlds. Actually, she still does that!
Her favourite fantasy books growing up were The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Wishing Chair and she’s also a big Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings fan.
One of her other early loves was crime fiction, starting off with children’s mysteries (Nancy Drew, Famous Five) before moving on to adult crime fiction. She’s written five full crime fiction novels, one novella and two short stories featuring Aussie FBI profiler Sophie Anderson. These books can be found under her initials, PD Martin (note: this series is recommended for readers 13-15 years and over.). Under PD Martin, she’s also written the first book in a spy thriller series, Hell’s Fury.
Prior to becoming a full-time author, Phillipa/Pippa worked as a professional writer for over ten years, writing award-winning copy for brochures, newsletters, websites, training CD-ROMs, flyers, ads, media releases and magazines.
Pippa Dee lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband and daughter.
Pippa Dee (a nickname of the author’s full name, Phillipa Deanne Martin) loved story-telling and fantasy worlds from an early age. When she was younger, she was often found staring into nothingness—day dreaming about magic and other fantastical worlds. Actually, she still does that!
Her favourite fantasy books growing up were The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Wishing Chair and she’s also a big Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings fan.
One of her other early loves was crime fiction, starting off with children’s mysteries (Nancy Drew, Famous Five) before moving on to adult crime fiction. She’s written five full crime fiction novels, one novella and two short stories featuring Aussie FBI profiler Sophie Anderson. These books can be found under her initials, PD Martin (note: this series is recommended for readers 13-15 years and over.). Under PD Martin, she’s also written the first book in a spy thriller series, Hell’s Fury.
Prior to becoming a full-time author, Phillipa/Pippa worked as a professional writer for over ten years, writing award-winning copy for brochures, newsletters, websites, training CD-ROMs, flyers, ads, media releases and magazines.
Pippa Dee lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband and daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 3, 2014
Fiona Thomas was accompanying her dad Paul on a business trip once again. With the passing of her mum five years ago, it left only the two of them, so she went with him when he needed to travel. She mostly didn’t enjoy these trips, left alone in a hotel room during the day, doing her school work online while her dad worked. But this trip was to Ennis in Ireland; the Old Ground where they were staying was very old with the original construction a homestead in the early 1800s. Her interest was piqued almost immediately when she spotted the eerie painting showing a face which appeared to be screaming – but the news the hotel was haunted had her laughing it off – she didn’t believe in ghosts.
With days of trying to do homework (her concentration level was at zero) interspersed with her search for the history of Ennis, the Old Ground plus former residents from 1827, Caitriona O Flaherty, Lord William Standfield, and his children Catherine and John, she found she was fascinated by the little she was finding, and needed to know more – she wanted to know as much as she could. For she felt she was linked somehow to these people from the past…
As she was drawn further into the past, the mystery deepened – what happened to these people so many years ago? And why was it her, Fiona, who was being led in the direction of a troubled, haunted past? The Ireland of the 1820s was definitely different to the current day – the Catholic Irish suffered from a terrible hunger, from illness and early death; the arrogance of the English landlords shocked Fiona – could she find out what happened so long ago?
This mixture of fantasy, mystery and historical fiction is a wonderful read. Written by Aussie author Pippa Dee, aka crime writer PD Martin it kept me completely engrossed from start to finish. The story is based on a real hotel in Ennis, Ireland which is rumoured to be haunted; the picture described in the novel does also exist. There is a photo of it included in the book and even on the kindle it looks extremely eerie. I highly recommend this novel, and thank Sally for her recommendation.
With days of trying to do homework (her concentration level was at zero) interspersed with her search for the history of Ennis, the Old Ground plus former residents from 1827, Caitriona O Flaherty, Lord William Standfield, and his children Catherine and John, she found she was fascinated by the little she was finding, and needed to know more – she wanted to know as much as she could. For she felt she was linked somehow to these people from the past…
As she was drawn further into the past, the mystery deepened – what happened to these people so many years ago? And why was it her, Fiona, who was being led in the direction of a troubled, haunted past? The Ireland of the 1820s was definitely different to the current day – the Catholic Irish suffered from a terrible hunger, from illness and early death; the arrogance of the English landlords shocked Fiona – could she find out what happened so long ago?
This mixture of fantasy, mystery and historical fiction is a wonderful read. Written by Aussie author Pippa Dee, aka crime writer PD Martin it kept me completely engrossed from start to finish. The story is based on a real hotel in Ennis, Ireland which is rumoured to be haunted; the picture described in the novel does also exist. There is a photo of it included in the book and even on the kindle it looks extremely eerie. I highly recommend this novel, and thank Sally for her recommendation.
May 16, 2019
Okay read...
that could have been great! I wish the story would have delved deeper into Caitriona's and William's relationship. Potentially GREAT characters with both of them, Catherine and John but without their development, it was hard to feel anything about their outcome and that of the story. I think the 2 1\2-3 stars range is fair so I have it 3 stars which is about right but without more details of their time period and again, more development of the protagonists, it could have easily been 5.
that could have been great! I wish the story would have delved deeper into Caitriona's and William's relationship. Potentially GREAT characters with both of them, Catherine and John but without their development, it was hard to feel anything about their outcome and that of the story. I think the 2 1\2-3 stars range is fair so I have it 3 stars which is about right but without more details of their time period and again, more development of the protagonists, it could have easily been 5.
December 29, 2024
Just ok
Quite an imaginative story to be based primarily off a painting. Just found it overall to be nothing stellar, unfortunately. Not much imagery of Ireland, either, though I did appreciate the historical aspects added into the story very much. Not sure I'd really recommend unless you're looking for a mild (and not horrifying) ghost/mystery book.
Quite an imaginative story to be based primarily off a painting. Just found it overall to be nothing stellar, unfortunately. Not much imagery of Ireland, either, though I did appreciate the historical aspects added into the story very much. Not sure I'd really recommend unless you're looking for a mild (and not horrifying) ghost/mystery book.
September 1, 2016
The Blurb: A tortured face. A haunted ancient hotel. An obsession to solve the mystery. Grounded Spirits is part ghost story, part mystery and part historical fiction—set in Ireland in both the current day and the 1820s. With a teenage central character, Grounded Spirits will appeal to teen readers as well as adults. Fiona Thomas is sick of trekking after her father on his business trips—but with her options anything but open, she finds herself in Ireland. As usual, she’s thoroughly bored within minutes. But when she comes face to face with what appears to be a haunted painting—and a haunted hotel—her boredom quickly disappears. Captivated by the tortured looking face in the painting, Fiona sets out to solve the mystery. Who owns the face and how did they die?
My Thoughts: I really enjoyed following Fiona’s adventures, although I would leave the adventuring to her – ghosts would scare me too much and going down into spooky dungeons would not be an item on my agenda in way shape or form. Author, Pippa Dee, has managed to bring back a traditional adventure mystery that has the readers on the edge of the seat and with no doom and gloom that so many YA books have today. Don’t get me wrong I do enjoy the angst ridden dystopian stories – but a good old fashioned adventure romp is so much more fun. The background stories cover the history of Ireland, Irish folklore and family relationships, single father struggling to stay connected to his child and the child really missing her deceased mother. The character of Fiona is an interesting one, she is a typical teen but once her curiosity is aroused she finds herself doing research with a passion that her Maths homework and English assignments just can’t evoke. The story was completed and there were no loose ends – but I can’t help but hope that Fiona’s ‘gift’ will ensure she has more adventures in the future.
My Thoughts: I really enjoyed following Fiona’s adventures, although I would leave the adventuring to her – ghosts would scare me too much and going down into spooky dungeons would not be an item on my agenda in way shape or form. Author, Pippa Dee, has managed to bring back a traditional adventure mystery that has the readers on the edge of the seat and with no doom and gloom that so many YA books have today. Don’t get me wrong I do enjoy the angst ridden dystopian stories – but a good old fashioned adventure romp is so much more fun. The background stories cover the history of Ireland, Irish folklore and family relationships, single father struggling to stay connected to his child and the child really missing her deceased mother. The character of Fiona is an interesting one, she is a typical teen but once her curiosity is aroused she finds herself doing research with a passion that her Maths homework and English assignments just can’t evoke. The story was completed and there were no loose ends – but I can’t help but hope that Fiona’s ‘gift’ will ensure she has more adventures in the future.
August 11, 2012
As long as the reader ignores the mythology and historical errors this tale of haunting is a fantastic read. Very enjoyable, the right mixture of suspense and drama with a touch of sadness for the star-crossed lovers. You may not find chills and horror but you will find a well written ghost story.
May 8, 2014
This was my first ebook..... and I think my first Fantasy read. I quite enjoyed reading this story by Pippa, quite different to the others by this wonderful author. Entertaining and informative about some Irish history.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews