The Hedgeway

by Vivienne Tuffnell

Leading from the overgrown grass and thicket of brambles were the distinct signs of feet small, bare human feet. A child had walked here, breaking the crisp coating of hoar frost, and had stood only yards from the kitchen window. Cathy They're only footprints, so why do I suddenly feel so scared? Daniel's grandmother's house seems only a few years from becoming a ruin but the roof is still sound and unlike his rented accommodation, the whole place is his. It seems the perfect time to ask girlfriend Cathy to move in with him and together they plan to renovate the house. But the old house has secrets that it wants to share with them whether they want to know or not. (This is a longer short story of around 17,000 words)

Paperback

First published August 30, 2014

Reviews

[S.J. Higbee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was immediately drawn into this atmospheric short story, which is a poignant ghost story with a tragic backstory. The main characters are engaging and with the vivid, accomplished writing, I was in the neglected, rambling old house alongside the young people as they attempted to rescue it from becoming a ruin and turning it back into a home. I read this one in a single sitting and emerged blinking and slightly disorientated – as you do when you’ve been immersed in a world. A short satisfying read that isn’t too creepy or horrific, but with a definite tingle factor.
9/10

[S.C. Skillman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this story. The author's build-up of atmosphere is graceful, subtle and compelling; she lures you into a real world of mundane problems associated with trying to improve a delapidated house, and she introduces small elements of the paranormal, weaving them into the thread of the physical world in an utterly convincing way, until the supernatural gains an urgency that the characters cannot avoid, and must deal with. First rate writing.

[Keren Dibbens-Wyatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly written and evocative, this ghost story hooks you by all six senses. The reader feels as drawn into the lives of this young couple and their old house as they do into the story that is waiting for them there. Tuffnell uses detail masterfully and though this is a short book, it is deeply satisfying to read.

[Paul Trembling · Rating 5 out of 5]

'A Chilling Tale' it says on the cover, and it has all the right ingredients. An old house, isolated and keeping secrets. A terrible tragedy, never resolved. The dark and cold of winter: the description of bare footprints in the snow was enough to bring a chill of sympathy, quite apart from any supernatural elements!

Vivienne Tuffnell is a superb storyteller, and shows it in the deft way in which she infiltrates the real world with the supernatural. But also in the way that she resolves the story, which I thought had a bittersweet beauty. But no spoilers - it's well worth reading for yourself.

The Hedgeway has the chill of Samhain: but it also has the warmth of Christmas.