What do you think?
Rate this book
An English Ghost Story
A dysfunctional British nuclear family seek a new life away from the big city in the sleepy Somerset countryside. At first their new home, The Hollow, seems to embrace them, creating a rare peace and harmony within the family. But when the house turns on them, it seems to know just how to hurt them the most—threatening to destroy them from the inside out. A stand-alone novel from acclaimed author Kim Newman.
313 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2014
121 people are currently reading
2351 people want to read
About the author
Kim Newman
288 books949 followersNote: This author also writes under the pseudonym of Jack Yeovil.
An expert on horror and sci-fi cinema (his books of film criticism include Nightmare Movies and Millennium Movies), Kim Newman's novels draw promiscuously on the tropes of horror, sci-fi and fantasy. He is complexly and irreverently referential; the Dracula sequence--Anno Dracula, The Bloody Red Baron and Dracula,Cha Cha Cha--not only portrays an alternate world in which the Count conquers Victorian Britain for a while, is the mastermind behind Germany's air aces in World War One and survives into a jetset 1950s of paparazzi and La Dolce Vita, but does so with endless throwaway references that range from Kipling to James Bond, from Edgar Allen Poe to Patricia Highsmith.
In horror novels such as Bad Dreams and Jago, reality turns out to be endlessly subverted by the powerfully malign. His pseudonymous novels, as Jack Yeovil, play elegant games with genre cliche--perhaps the best of these is the sword-and-sorcery novel Drachenfels which takes the prescribed formulae of the games company to whose bible it was written and make them over entirely into a Kim Newman novel.
Life's Lottery, his most mainstream novel, consists of multiple choice fragments which enable readers to choose the hero's fate and take him into horror, crime and sf storylines or into mundane reality.
An expert on horror and sci-fi cinema (his books of film criticism include Nightmare Movies and Millennium Movies), Kim Newman's novels draw promiscuously on the tropes of horror, sci-fi and fantasy. He is complexly and irreverently referential; the Dracula sequence--Anno Dracula, The Bloody Red Baron and Dracula,Cha Cha Cha--not only portrays an alternate world in which the Count conquers Victorian Britain for a while, is the mastermind behind Germany's air aces in World War One and survives into a jetset 1950s of paparazzi and La Dolce Vita, but does so with endless throwaway references that range from Kipling to James Bond, from Edgar Allen Poe to Patricia Highsmith.
In horror novels such as Bad Dreams and Jago, reality turns out to be endlessly subverted by the powerfully malign. His pseudonymous novels, as Jack Yeovil, play elegant games with genre cliche--perhaps the best of these is the sword-and-sorcery novel Drachenfels which takes the prescribed formulae of the games company to whose bible it was written and make them over entirely into a Kim Newman novel.
Life's Lottery, his most mainstream novel, consists of multiple choice fragments which enable readers to choose the hero's fate and take him into horror, crime and sf storylines or into mundane reality.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 233 reviews
November 11, 2021
This started out marvelously with a dysfunctional family moving into a beautiful, old, haunted house and being charmed by the supernatural elements they encounter. It was an original, odd, and endearing twist on the traditional ghost story. This happens in the very beginning, so I'm not giving anything away. Things soon fall apart.
With the family, their initial happiness with the house begins to chip away as the negative quirks in their personalities start to reassert themselves. The most malevolent is the mother's which may have more to do with western society's misogyny than a character disorder. She is terribly incompetent at everything she tries as a career, but still resents her husband and children from holding her back. Ugh! Do people like this really exist? I find that an ugly bias that could have been softened or altered. She also has a malignant best friend determined to tear the family apart. Of all the characters, the mother is the most despicable. I find that sad and unrealistic if the author wants you to root for the family as a whole.
With the family, their initial happiness with the house begins to chip away as the negative quirks in their personalities start to reassert themselves. The most malevolent is the mother's which may have more to do with western society's misogyny than a character disorder. She is terribly incompetent at everything she tries as a career, but still resents her husband and children from holding her back. Ugh! Do people like this really exist? I find that an ugly bias that could have been softened or altered. She also has a malignant best friend determined to tear the family apart. Of all the characters, the mother is the most despicable. I find that sad and unrealistic if the author wants you to root for the family as a whole.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 23, 2016
Imagine a house that was haunted before there was a house to haunt.....Newman brings his unique vision to this slow burning tale of a family that finds itself in the presence of supernatural forces of unknown intent.
So subtle as to be nearly subliminal, this almost psychological haunting will keep you wondering if the ghosts ate having a negative effect on the family.....the family is having a negative effect on the ghosts, or possibly both, as things spin inexorably from the creepy to the weird.
So subtle as to be nearly subliminal, this almost psychological haunting will keep you wondering if the ghosts ate having a negative effect on the family.....the family is having a negative effect on the ghosts, or possibly both, as things spin inexorably from the creepy to the weird.
January 18, 2015
This was my first time reading Newman, the author until now I only knew rom his Anno Dracula series. Vampires and series being not my thing, never read him until I saw this book. Named so generically, it doesn't really set up any expectations and so it didn't disappoint. Did it impress? To an extent. Newman's writing skills are actually quite impressive, his character development is most excellent and so the first third of the book is really good. Then once it delves into the horror zone, it starts spinning out of control into something too overwritten and somewhat plodding, although it was actually a pretty quick read. The thing with this book is that it's much more of a psychological drama of a dysfunctional family than it is a horror novel. There are plenty of ghosts, but they are used as a sort of therapy tools to explain the human dynamics. And so, this really is a story of a family who tries to have a fresh start at a place they fall madly in love with, a feeling which at first is enthusiastically reciprocated by the house. Familiar premise. Plus, of course, the horror genre is rife with haunted house stories. But to Newman's credit he does manage to put an original spin on it. At the start it is the most peculiar of hauntings, there is a certain ebullience to it, a wild charm. A real dream of a real estate situation. It would have been nice if Newman sustained the energy and fun the initial set up promised or, since genre demands, did something different (definitely pacing wise) when the story took a dark turn. Sort of a mixed bag, but a fairly auspicious introduction nonetheless to an author who as it turns out also does stand alones. For fans of quiet subtle psychological horror.
November 10, 2014
Not my taste. I'm sorry I read all 300 pages; I should have stopped when I first got annoyed. But the book kept hinting about some great reveal about the family's former trauma...but that never happened. The whimsy fell flat, the characters were annoying assholes, and the ending was unspeakably saccharine.
Read
March 26, 2015I will get around to posting about this book shortly, but in the meantime, if anyone would like my copy (in the US), I'm not keeping it and it needs a home. Just be the first to leave a message -- and I'll give it to you and I'll pay postage.
June 12, 2017
Not too bad to start but it just got weird and not in a good way. At 60% or so it was so ridiculous that I just scanned the rest, which didn't bode well, so I gave myself permission to call it a day.
October 16, 2025
#️⃣5️⃣6️⃣1️⃣ Read & Reviewed in 2025 🍩🧁
Date : 🗓️ Sunday, October 12, 2025 🎁💐🍝
Word Count📃: 94k Words 🎉🍬✨
— !! 𖦹「 ✦ 🍪 Happy Birthday🎂 ✦ 」✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩
My 36th read in "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY MONTH!!! :DDDD 👏🍭🍨" October.
3️⃣🌟, dysfunctional family discovers ghosts, weird shit happens
——————————————————————
➕➖0️⃣1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣4️⃣5️⃣6️⃣7️⃣8️⃣9️⃣🔟✖️➗
And then nothing else. This is one where a family, a poorly coordinated one, moves into this haunted house and experiences...."haunted" things cuz ofcourse what else would happen? There are many supernatural elements that are just super boring rnd cliche, nothing original happens and everything just becomes extremely predictable. Many odd and bizarre things happen but i mean...IT'S A HAUNTED HOUSE WHAT ELSE DO YOU EXPECT???????. It all just becomes remarkably boring and one that is just lacking any substance. Its weird things happening for the sake of weird things happening, without any plot or even anything to make sense of this book. With supposedly 'suspicious and unknown motives' of the supernatural beings, the family try to survive and live in the haunted house. And I'm just like gurll can't you just gtfo of there? 🙄🙄🙄
Thank you @Dannii for the buddy read..
Date : 🗓️ Sunday, October 12, 2025 🎁💐🍝
Word Count📃: 94k Words 🎉🍬✨
— !! 𖦹「 ✦ 🍪 Happy Birthday🎂 ✦ 」✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩
My 36th read in "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY MONTH!!! :DDDD 👏🍭🍨" October.
3️⃣🌟, dysfunctional family discovers ghosts, weird shit happens
——————————————————————
➕➖0️⃣1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣4️⃣5️⃣6️⃣7️⃣8️⃣9️⃣🔟✖️➗
And then nothing else. This is one where a family, a poorly coordinated one, moves into this haunted house and experiences...."haunted" things cuz ofcourse what else would happen? There are many supernatural elements that are just super boring rnd cliche, nothing original happens and everything just becomes extremely predictable. Many odd and bizarre things happen but i mean...IT'S A HAUNTED HOUSE WHAT ELSE DO YOU EXPECT???????. It all just becomes remarkably boring and one that is just lacking any substance. Its weird things happening for the sake of weird things happening, without any plot or even anything to make sense of this book. With supposedly 'suspicious and unknown motives' of the supernatural beings, the family try to survive and live in the haunted house. And I'm just like gurll can't you just gtfo of there? 🙄🙄🙄
Thank you @Dannii for the buddy read..
October 13, 2014
This novel indeed has the structure of a fairly classic ghost story. A family comes to live in a haunted house- haunted land, actually. The spirit(s) start quietly, but very quickly ramp up to full scale, capital H Haunting. This family, however, is not your typical English ghost story family. This is a modern day, dysfunctional, can barely get along family. This becomes an important factor later in the story.
The Naremore family is looking for a house in the country, hoping relocation will solve their relationship problems. Nothing they are shown seems right, until they visit the Hollow, recently home to the late author Louise Teazle. The house is very old, with additions put on through the centuries, and the land has been in use even longer than the house has stood. They all instantly fall in love with the house and land, and cannot wait to move in. The Hollow comes complete with the belongings of Miss Teazle.
Louise Teazle wrote children’s stories that have been read for ages, and Kirsty Naremore is very familiar with them. Some of them seem to have been set in the Hollow itself under a different name, as Kirsty quickly starts identifying furnishings and locations as one’s mentioned in Teazle’s initial ghost story. How much else of the ghost stories Teazle wrote are true? Kirsty wonders. A lot, as it turns out.
While at first the Hollow brings the family together, small upsets anger the spirits. The spirits want the house and family to be just *so* and when the Naremores fail to allow this, the ghosts start setting the family members against each other, unerringly finding their psychological weak spots- and all four of them have some big ones.
I mostly loved this story. It’s creepy- very creepy. I loved that it wasn’t just one recent spirit, but something going back to prehistoric time and all points in between. I loved the magic chest of drawers and how Kirsty is drawn into playing with it, not at all baffled by the fact that it defies all laws of physics. I loved the house itself. But I didn’t love the characters. I found them tolerable, but I never made the kind of connection one would like to have in a character driven story. I realize they needed to have personality problems to create the story, but I had a hard time really feeling for them.
The Naremore family is looking for a house in the country, hoping relocation will solve their relationship problems. Nothing they are shown seems right, until they visit the Hollow, recently home to the late author Louise Teazle. The house is very old, with additions put on through the centuries, and the land has been in use even longer than the house has stood. They all instantly fall in love with the house and land, and cannot wait to move in. The Hollow comes complete with the belongings of Miss Teazle.
Louise Teazle wrote children’s stories that have been read for ages, and Kirsty Naremore is very familiar with them. Some of them seem to have been set in the Hollow itself under a different name, as Kirsty quickly starts identifying furnishings and locations as one’s mentioned in Teazle’s initial ghost story. How much else of the ghost stories Teazle wrote are true? Kirsty wonders. A lot, as it turns out.
While at first the Hollow brings the family together, small upsets anger the spirits. The spirits want the house and family to be just *so* and when the Naremores fail to allow this, the ghosts start setting the family members against each other, unerringly finding their psychological weak spots- and all four of them have some big ones.
I mostly loved this story. It’s creepy- very creepy. I loved that it wasn’t just one recent spirit, but something going back to prehistoric time and all points in between. I loved the magic chest of drawers and how Kirsty is drawn into playing with it, not at all baffled by the fact that it defies all laws of physics. I loved the house itself. But I didn’t love the characters. I found them tolerable, but I never made the kind of connection one would like to have in a character driven story. I realize they needed to have personality problems to create the story, but I had a hard time really feeling for them.
December 20, 2022
Very ok ghost story. Not scary, not atmospheric. If it were a colour it would be off white bandage with suspicious stains.
June 1, 2019
This was okay. I found the ending a bit muddled and confusing at to what was going on but enjoyed the scene-setting in the first quarter or so, and the writing style is often quite beautiful. There's nothing really scary here, it's more of a family drama with spooky interludes.
January 18, 2018
I have read half this book and I found the first quarter excellent but I have never finished it as it becomes more tedious and frivolous the more I read.
January 10, 2016
the first half was better than the second. writing good, ending rushed. not scary
October 12, 2025
I thought that lying behind this unassuming title would be a chilling tale of ghostly possession but instead found an odd and experimental tale that held all the bones of what actually makes a haunted house story but without anything that actually makes a haunted house story great.
The dysfunctional family it is centred around experience frights and scares in their new home but it feels far more initially magical than sinister. The final quarter is where the terror truly begins but I felt this was, overall, too much of an odd read for me to truly understand or immerse myself in. It definitely is different to the slew of haunted house stories in the horror genre but I think I'm starting to learn that I like my chilling fiction to follow these guidelines.
The dysfunctional family it is centred around experience frights and scares in their new home but it feels far more initially magical than sinister. The final quarter is where the terror truly begins but I felt this was, overall, too much of an odd read for me to truly understand or immerse myself in. It definitely is different to the slew of haunted house stories in the horror genre but I think I'm starting to learn that I like my chilling fiction to follow these guidelines.
August 1, 2016
Discounting last year’s ANNO DRACULA: JOHNNY ALUCARD (I do so hesitantly, but it was largely an assemblage of previously published novella pieces with new connective tissue pulling the storyline together) it has been roughly 15 long years (LIFE’S LOTTERY 1999) since we’ve had a new novel from Kim Newman. Sure, we’ve had plenty of incredibly fun novellas and short story collections in the ANNO DRACULA and DIOGENES CLUB and MORIARTY vein to keep us occupied, and every one of them a pop-culture laden fanboy joy, but no full-length standalone explorations of theme. Happily, AN ENGLISH GHOST STORY has made the wait more than worthwhile. What we have in this new novel is a skilfully crafted piece of work from a writer who is clearly at the top of his game. Kim gives the traditional ghost story, specifically the haunted house theme - a fragmented family moves into what turns out to be a haunted house and weird stuff happens - his own spin. Familiar tropes? You bet. Kim hasn’t entirely eschewed the Victorian/Edwardian or 60s/70s pop-lit culture influences that characterize so much of his work. We are in a world where Catriona Kaye and Drearcliffe Grange (of the ANNO DRACULA and DIOGENES CLUB stories) are referenced in rewarding fashion, and there’s no escaping Henry James’ THE TURN OF THE SCREW, or the film influences of THE HAUNTING or LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE, but it’s all explored and delivered with a surprising sensitivity, emotional depth, understanding of human foibles in relationships and a maturity of voice I’ve not seen in Kim’s previous work. There’s a hint of commonality with Neil Gaiman’s deft working of light in darkness and the late Graham Joyce’s nostalgic warmth that permeates and elevates this book. It’s the voice telling the story, as much as the story itself, that makes a read worthwhile. Sure, there are scares galore, a measured ratcheting up of tension and a creepy atmosphere that work beautifully throughout, but the underlying driving force is in exploring the human relationships, the love that binds us in our family relationships, about recognizing who we are, who we need, how we fit together to flourish as human beings. This is everything I hoped it would be, and was surprised to get what I wanted and more, which is to say this is Kim Newman at his best and it’s exactly what it says on the wrapper…it’s AN ENGLISH GHOST STORY.
December 3, 2014
I've been a Kim Newman fan since "Jago" in the early 90s, and its great that he's finally back to writing horror novels after such a long break (I still haven't read "Johnny Alucard," but I'm chomping at the bit to get to it). "An English Ghost Story" didn't disappoint. It's at once a great, almost classic ghost story in the M.R. James mold, but Newman infuses it with enough of his batsh*t weirdo sensibility to make it utterly its own thing. There's a minor rough patch in the middle where the shift toward horror feels rushed and the characters start behaving in odd ways that feel a bit unmotivated until the reasons are finally revealed toward the end. These are minor quibbles, however. The characters are great, the eeriness persists throughout and there are a few passages that are truly terrifying. I'm not ashamed to admit this book gave me a nasty flurry of nightmares the other night.
I do wish it had some of the scope of "Jago" or some of Newman's other works, and there are a few loose ends (like Kirsty's relationship with Vron) that I didn't feel like were entirely satisfactorily explored. But overall this is the scariest and most precisely crafted haunted-house novel I've read in a very long time.
I do wish it had some of the scope of "Jago" or some of Newman's other works, and there are a few loose ends (like Kirsty's relationship with Vron) that I didn't feel like were entirely satisfactorily explored. But overall this is the scariest and most precisely crafted haunted-house novel I've read in a very long time.
November 4, 2014
Book Review & Giveaway: You probably know multi-award-winning author Kim Newman for his bestselling Anno Dracula series. An English Ghost Story is his new stand-alone novel and I was intrigued by it from the moment I saw it in an industry newsletter. Growing up in the Appalachian Mountains, it seemed that listening to and reading ghost stories was an ongoing rite of passage. An English Ghost Story is such a different kind of novel from the Anno Dracula series that I didn’t even realize Mr. Newman was the same author until I began to write this review – doh. Beyond the mesmerizing ghostly theme, this is a story about family and the ways they support and harm each other. It’s also a story about place, how it affects us, and how we affect it for better or for worse. Many thanks to the publisher for giving us a copy for our giveaway! Find out what I thought of it and enter to win at copy at http://popcornreads.com/?p=7855.
January 15, 2017
The back of the book describes the Naremores as a dysfunctional family, so I don't think it's a spoiler to say that all four of them (parents and two kids) have issues. Some are apparent to the reader from the outset, others are slower to reveal themselves. Daughter Jordan's is the most specific (though it took me longer than it should have to put a name to it), son Tim's the least (I was never able to tell whether he actually had some kind of problem or had adopted his particular obsession as a way to cope with those of the other three). The personal "demons" for parents Kirsty and Steven fall somewhere in the middle.
Newman does an excellent job with pacing, though impatient readers may find it a bit of a slow build: there are flickers of hope that their new home will be a new start, a brief period of happiness and cohesion, followed by the slow disintegration of their lives as the horrors within and without intensify. However, the climactic section near the end where each of them individually figures out what's happening and how to turn things around felt rushed and thin, more of a tell than a show. The only character whose change felt truly credible was Jordan, perhaps because the problem she's struggling with is the most well-defined and therefore the most clear-cut to resolve. For the parents in particular the resolutions seemed far too blunt and abrupt; I saw their change of heart but I didn't really believe it. For example, Hello, Captain Obvious, and thanks for dropping by.
"Autumn," the last section, which is a kind of epilogue or denouement in which things have settled down, can be read either positively or negatively: Have they won or given in? Conquered or been conquered? I don't know if Newman intended the double meaning (it might just be me over-thinking it), but I actually liked the ambiguity -- rather than providing resolution, it ends a relatively simple story with a rather uncertain and complicated question.
My favorite parts were the descriptions of the Hollow at the beginning and the warmth and comfort the family feels; the tie-in with the childrens' books; the magic bureau (I want one!!); the slowly rising creepiness; the gang of weirdly obsessive fans of the Weezie books; and the detail of Tim's inner life as a secret soldier, complete with the abbreviations the military is so fond of (U-Dub, BS, IpCiC). Also, might "Naremore" be a nod to Poe's raven constantly croaking "Nevermore" aka "Ne'ermore"?
Couple of minor nits: Kirsty's friend Veronica ("Vron") and Bernard Wing-Godfrey left me very puzzled. Just could not make sense of it.
In short, an enjoyable read with a few flaws that can be overlooked.
Newman does an excellent job with pacing, though impatient readers may find it a bit of a slow build: there are flickers of hope that their new home will be a new start, a brief period of happiness and cohesion, followed by the slow disintegration of their lives as the horrors within and without intensify. However, the climactic section near the end where each of them individually figures out what's happening and how to turn things around felt rushed and thin, more of a tell than a show. The only character whose change felt truly credible was Jordan, perhaps because the problem she's struggling with is the most well-defined and therefore the most clear-cut to resolve. For the parents in particular the resolutions seemed far too blunt and abrupt; I saw their change of heart but I didn't really believe it. For example, Hello, Captain Obvious, and thanks for dropping by.
"Autumn," the last section, which is a kind of epilogue or denouement in which things have settled down, can be read either positively or negatively: Have they won or given in? Conquered or been conquered? I don't know if Newman intended the double meaning (it might just be me over-thinking it), but I actually liked the ambiguity -- rather than providing resolution, it ends a relatively simple story with a rather uncertain and complicated question.
My favorite parts were the descriptions of the Hollow at the beginning and the warmth and comfort the family feels; the tie-in with the childrens' books; the magic bureau (I want one!!); the slowly rising creepiness; the gang of weirdly obsessive fans of the Weezie books; and the detail of Tim's inner life as a secret soldier, complete with the abbreviations the military is so fond of (U-Dub, BS, IpCiC). Also, might "Naremore" be a nod to Poe's raven constantly croaking "Nevermore" aka "Ne'ermore"?
Couple of minor nits: Kirsty's friend Veronica ("Vron") and Bernard Wing-Godfrey left me very puzzled. Just could not make sense of it.
In short, an enjoyable read with a few flaws that can be overlooked.
September 19, 2014
This was a book that started out GREAT! The descriptions of 'The Hollow' and its effect on what was a splintered and disintegrating English family, was nothing less than charming. Add to that the back story of the house's past, and BOOM...instant readability.
The problem comes in the of a meandering plot, and snail slow pacing.
By the time you get to the part in the read where charm turns macabre, you are so ready for it that there is no wow.
There is also the issue of the family's seeming unwillingness to come to terms with the fact that the ghosts that they came to embrace, turned on them.
This is a good read. A bit of a round about journey from A to B, but a good book nonetheless.
The problem comes in the of a meandering plot, and snail slow pacing.
By the time you get to the part in the read where charm turns macabre, you are so ready for it that there is no wow.
There is also the issue of the family's seeming unwillingness to come to terms with the fact that the ghosts that they came to embrace, turned on them.
This is a good read. A bit of a round about journey from A to B, but a good book nonetheless.
December 23, 2015
This book was really more about the journey for me than the destination, because the ending was a little weak, IMO. The pacing was a tale of 2 books, because what started off slowly took off like a shot around 2/3 of the way in.
It is the story of a haunted piece of ground called The Hollow, and a family who moves into the house there. It is obvious right away that it is haunted, but at least at first this is not a bad thing. I won't say more for fear of spoiling it.
The premise was very creative, and well-done. The characters were fairly well fleshed out as well. Overall I really enjoyed it, I just wish the ending had lived up to the rest of the book (again, won't say more for fear of spoiling it). Recommended for fans of ghost stories, especially.
It is the story of a haunted piece of ground called The Hollow, and a family who moves into the house there. It is obvious right away that it is haunted, but at least at first this is not a bad thing. I won't say more for fear of spoiling it.
The premise was very creative, and well-done. The characters were fairly well fleshed out as well. Overall I really enjoyed it, I just wish the ending had lived up to the rest of the book (again, won't say more for fear of spoiling it). Recommended for fans of ghost stories, especially.
August 13, 2015
I often think writing a good Haunted House novel is just about the hardest trick in the world. It's just about impossible to get right. Newman mostly succeeds. Not really a horror novel, though so adjust your expectations towards family drama.
April 28, 2015
I enjoyed the ideas behind this novel-that a land could be haunted for thousands of years, that trees and lamps and long-dead children could manifest power to either help or harm. But there were too many logic holes in this one for more than 3 stars.
October 25, 2019
I lost interest in the characters 9/10 of the into the book.
October 23, 2018
This book was certainly not what I was expecting from a title like An English Ghost Story, or based on the synopsis on the back of it. To be fair, almost all of my experience with ghost stories come from American authors and it seems that British authors tend to rely on the psychological factor rather than the visceral factors that we tend to enjoy. It was actually really refreshing to read a book the relied so much more on the psychological fear. I felt anxious and tense during the last half of the book.
It was interesting to me, even though the book does not deal with demon possession in any way, that it followed the standard course of what we're told about demon possession. The author made the ghost factor much more complicated and involved than I expected from a ghost story and I enjoyed going from start to finish with it.
The climax ties everything together in a way that makes you put the book down, think for a while, and then go 'wow'. Even though it was not what I was expecting at all, it made for an excellent story that kept me entertained throughout.
It was interesting to me, even though the book does not deal with demon possession in any way, that it followed the standard course of what we're told about demon possession. The author made the ghost factor much more complicated and involved than I expected from a ghost story and I enjoyed going from start to finish with it.
The climax ties everything together in a way that makes you put the book down, think for a while, and then go 'wow'. Even though it was not what I was expecting at all, it made for an excellent story that kept me entertained throughout.
December 29, 2020
A slightly different take on the "Haunted House" scenario with ghosts who seem to take their cue from the actions of the family members. The Naremores have taken over the house of Louise Teazle, a writer of children's books, books which would appear to have their origins in the house. Fixtures & fittings that the books featured are recognisable in the house (the magic drawers - loved those!) & it would seem the ghosts Ms Teazle wrote of might also be in the house too. The house weaves a spell over the four Naremores but as the family fractures & starts to fight between themselves, the house seems to intercede & makes things far, far, worse.
The idea of the house turning on the family (or was it the family turning on the house?) worked well, with it bringing out the faults in each personality. It was muddling at times but in some ways the confusion worked in the story's favour, emphasising the different experiences each individual was undergoing unbeknown to the others. While the tension built up nicely (especially with what finally went into...& came out of...the magic drawers!) the conclusion let it down for me, with holes in both Vron & Rick's story's that I wanted filling in.
Overall, a good enough read but would have been better without those loose ends left dangling.
(It's totally irrelevant to the story but it niggled me that while written in 2014, the story seemed to be set in the 1990s with talk of the Spice girls, fax machines, pogs & videos & confirmed with "the things can only get better government" comment. I assume...rightly or wrongly...that a story is contemporary to the date written unless otherwise specified. I don't care when it's set - just let me know!! Just a bug bear of mine....)
The idea of the house turning on the family (or was it the family turning on the house?) worked well, with it bringing out the faults in each personality. It was muddling at times but in some ways the confusion worked in the story's favour, emphasising the different experiences each individual was undergoing unbeknown to the others. While the tension built up nicely (especially with what finally went into...& came out of...the magic drawers!) the conclusion let it down for me, with holes in both Vron & Rick's story's that I wanted filling in.
Overall, a good enough read but would have been better without those loose ends left dangling.
(It's totally irrelevant to the story but it niggled me that while written in 2014, the story seemed to be set in the 1990s with talk of the Spice girls, fax machines, pogs & videos & confirmed with "the things can only get better government" comment. I assume...rightly or wrongly...that a story is contemporary to the date written unless otherwise specified. I don't care when it's set - just let me know!! Just a bug bear of mine....)
June 23, 2019
Kim Newman is well-known among horror fans as a leading expert on the genre. His own Anno Dracula series, packed with adventure and teeming with horror allusions, references and in-jokes, is tremendous fun.
An English Ghost Story is a different sort of novel, although I think there are still some references that horror fans will notice. It begins with what at first seems to be a typical nuclear family, the Naremores, househunting in the West Country. Mum Kirsty, dad Steven, teenage daughter Jordan and younger son Tim are captivated by The Hollow, a rambling historic property once owned by a famous children's author, Louise Magellan Teasle. Upon moving in, they soon notice some odd things happening, but the house's magic is enchanting and the family seem to be thriving like never before - until gradually the strangeness starts to escalate and the Naremores start to feel uneasy. At the same time, we start to learn more about the Naremores' family dynamic. Are they really the solid family unit they appear? Or do they have something to hide?
Although there is a minor twist to this story when it comes to the explanation for the Hollow's gradual stepping up of its malevolence, this is a fairly straightforward family haunting horror story that's somewhat cinematic - think Amityville, Poltergeist, The Conjuring and so on. It clearly draws from a lot that's gone before it, but that's not a criticism at all; as a horror fan I found it one of the most pleasing things about the book. I also found the supernatural goings-on suitably creepy and the gradual changes in the family's behaviour quite nightmarish at times.
However, I also found the plot and characters weak. It's a necessity of the story that the family are flawed individuals, and that's fine, but unlikeable characters do need to be interesting if we're to enjoy spending a few hundred pages in their company and I don't think the Naremores deliver. The plot itself is also pretty thin and feels like a vehicle for the set-piece horror scenes rather than a fully-fledged story. There's also the constant hinting at a sub-plot involving a figure from the family's past which seems promising but simply fizzles out - a pity, as it could have been potentially more interesting than some of the main events.
This was a book that I wanted to like much more than I did. The horror itself is entertaining, but elsewhere I found it lacking.
An English Ghost Story is a different sort of novel, although I think there are still some references that horror fans will notice. It begins with what at first seems to be a typical nuclear family, the Naremores, househunting in the West Country. Mum Kirsty, dad Steven, teenage daughter Jordan and younger son Tim are captivated by The Hollow, a rambling historic property once owned by a famous children's author, Louise Magellan Teasle. Upon moving in, they soon notice some odd things happening, but the house's magic is enchanting and the family seem to be thriving like never before - until gradually the strangeness starts to escalate and the Naremores start to feel uneasy. At the same time, we start to learn more about the Naremores' family dynamic. Are they really the solid family unit they appear? Or do they have something to hide?
Although there is a minor twist to this story when it comes to the explanation for the Hollow's gradual stepping up of its malevolence, this is a fairly straightforward family haunting horror story that's somewhat cinematic - think Amityville, Poltergeist, The Conjuring and so on. It clearly draws from a lot that's gone before it, but that's not a criticism at all; as a horror fan I found it one of the most pleasing things about the book. I also found the supernatural goings-on suitably creepy and the gradual changes in the family's behaviour quite nightmarish at times.
However, I also found the plot and characters weak. It's a necessity of the story that the family are flawed individuals, and that's fine, but unlikeable characters do need to be interesting if we're to enjoy spending a few hundred pages in their company and I don't think the Naremores deliver. The plot itself is also pretty thin and feels like a vehicle for the set-piece horror scenes rather than a fully-fledged story. There's also the constant hinting at a sub-plot involving a figure from the family's past which seems promising but simply fizzles out - a pity, as it could have been potentially more interesting than some of the main events.
This was a book that I wanted to like much more than I did. The horror itself is entertaining, but elsewhere I found it lacking.
November 24, 2025
Newman is an excellent writer; I greatly enjoyed his Boris Karloff/Hollyweird story, Something More Than Night. I agree with other comments on this one. You'd think given the title, that you might expect a classic English ghost story with a gloomy home, but au contraire, it's like a family moves into the homestead of Beatrix Potter-- the house is charming, the previous occupant wrote classic stories set at the house, in fact, there is a local society out to preserve the house and the history and turn it into a museum.
But it is pleasantly haunted by many ghosts--which are elementals of some kind, not so much ghosts of individual people who lived there before, more like energies.
For a moment, I thought of We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. All good in the weird house until the relative with an agenda comes to "visit". In this case, it's a weird friend of the mother.
The first half is quite charming--the ghosts embrace the family and all is wonderful.
And then-- rather suddenly, they all experience personality shifts and things go wildly off the rails. It's like they all become consumed by their shadow personalities and act on their deepest, suppressed anxieties.
I confess, I skimmed and skipped ahead to the conclusion.
Loved the charm of the first half... then I got lost in the weirdness.
But it is pleasantly haunted by many ghosts--which are elementals of some kind, not so much ghosts of individual people who lived there before, more like energies.
For a moment, I thought of We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. All good in the weird house until the relative with an agenda comes to "visit". In this case, it's a weird friend of the mother.
The first half is quite charming--the ghosts embrace the family and all is wonderful.
And then-- rather suddenly, they all experience personality shifts and things go wildly off the rails. It's like they all become consumed by their shadow personalities and act on their deepest, suppressed anxieties.
I confess, I skimmed and skipped ahead to the conclusion.
Loved the charm of the first half... then I got lost in the weirdness.
November 10, 2021
The cover and title is what captured my interest. I had bought it and glad that I did. The story opens up to a troubled family looking for a home to start fresh. One home, in particular, caught their attention. Little would they know, what was waiting for them...a major surprise that would tear this family apart and mend them together and for reasons. The story took you all over the place, leaving you in anger, tension, happiness, sadness, a mixed emotion that swirled inside you as you dive deeper into the character's life in every chapter. I personally have to say it was amazing, claustrophobic, intense, adventurous...like I said, loads of mixed emotions. It was hard to set the book down and the images continued to play in your mind as the author had given such great details. I highly recommend this book. It's a must-read and very helpful in your own personal life to understanding what love is about.
July 23, 2019
2.5 stars. The second book of the Reading Rush completed!
First of all, I wouldn't call this a horror but more like a family drama since there were pretty much no scary or creepy scenes. At least I did not find them, perhaps I am just a tough audience.
The first quarter of the book was intriguing and I was wondering what will happen, however that feeling disappeared after couple of pages. Everyone had its own issues and I just couldn't figure out at some point why is the book called An English Ghost Story. As I said, there was nothing scary here. The author kept showing hints and I was thinking "Yes! This is it! THIS TIME!" but, no, nothing. It just did not work out for me. I was bored half of the time and I did not care about the characters either.
First of all, I wouldn't call this a horror but more like a family drama since there were pretty much no scary or creepy scenes. At least I did not find them, perhaps I am just a tough audience.
The first quarter of the book was intriguing and I was wondering what will happen, however that feeling disappeared after couple of pages. Everyone had its own issues and I just couldn't figure out at some point why is the book called An English Ghost Story. As I said, there was nothing scary here. The author kept showing hints and I was thinking "Yes! This is it! THIS TIME!" but, no, nothing. It just did not work out for me. I was bored half of the time and I did not care about the characters either.
April 4, 2015
The dysfunctional Naremore family wants a fresh new start, so they buy a quaint house called the Hollow in the country. This house used to be owned by a children's author whose books focused on a scrappy little girl, her ghost friends, and their home (a fictionalized version of her own home). The family rapidly realizes that the ghosts are real and the Hollow has a charming sort of magic. Everyone is suddenly getting along. All the problems of the past seem to melt away. Around every corner is something charming, inexplicable, and theirs alone. The Hollow is paradise and just what everyone needs. The novelty eventually wears off and old problems start coming back. All of the family members are suddenly at war with each other and the ghosts respond in kind. The charming magic of the Hollow is gone, replaced by menace as the ghosts pit the members against each other. The family is headed towards total destruction with the ghosts poking and prodding to get them there.
An English Ghost Story is kind of a bland and nondescript title, so I didn't really know what to expect. It doesn't disappoint. Kim Newman writes beautifully. The first third of the book introduces the characters and shows their idyllic existence when they first move into the Hollow. The family starts to heal, putting aside their petty differences and coming together. I love how instead of crazy infodumping information about the family and their background, it was seamlessly integrated into the text without interrupting the story. I also grew to care for the family as their pasts were fleshed out piece by piece to compare to their present selves. I am frankly jealous of their house. The chest of drawers with Mary Poppins-esque magic is my favorite object. The ghosts revealed themselves to each family member in an endearing and entertaining way. The house seemed to embrace them while they got along, but this didn't last. The old conflicts eventually resurfaced, causing the ghosts to help each member in their ultimate goal: to come out victorious.
My problem with the novel starts when the family begins to turn on each other. Each member of the Naremore family becomes obsessed with one thing or another. The father Steven becomes obsessed with dominating his household with an iron fist. The women must serve him hand and foot and follow him without question. He becomes more and more abusive as the novel goes on, eventually coming to blows with his daughter Jordan. The son Tim becomes more and more entrenched in his army fantasy where he alone protects the house from intruders and their attacks. He also turns his sights on Jordan as a perpetrator. The men of the house exhibit extreme, stereotypically masculine behavior and target the women of the house to subjugate. I was hoping these tropes would be subverted in some way, but the change to back to normal is very abrupt. They don't seem to even process what was wrong or why they did things.
The women go through a similar change. The mother Kirsty rails against her family and their life, insisting that her life with Vron, her best friend who she left behind, would be better. She looks back on her past failures and only sees her family getting in her way. Then she resolves to be rid of them. This reaction in Kirsty is more shocking because mothers tend to be more nurturing, but I just don't buy it. It's based on a very tired stereotype about women and I feel it would have been just as shocking to hear out of Steven. She does successfully rid herself of Tim at one point, but it seems to only serve to make her the meek, subservient wife that Steven wants because her ambition led to what she thought was her child's death. Jordan collapses inward and becomes anorexic after breaking up with her boyfriend. She becomes a shadow of herself, but then suddenly realizes that she looks just fine and ceases to be anorexic. This angered me because people go to therapy and work on their body dysmorphia for years to overcome eating disorders. To have it come and go so swiftly points to a lack of understanding and another stereotypical female reaction to rejection.
This brings me to Vron, Kirsty's mysterious best friend. Everyone calls her a witch ad her friendships are deemed toxic. It isn't ever really explained why or how, just simply understood. I immediately doubt their word because the circumstances seem suspicious and characters are notoriously unreliable. It seemed to me that one of the big reasons they moved there was because Steven hated Vron and wanted to isolate Kirsty from her friend. This just shows that Steven was a patriarchal husband even before the ghosts got a hold of him. The whole situation just rubbed me the wrong way and smacked of impending abuse. Then Vron actually arrives on the scene and she seems like a maniac. The ghosts protect the house from her and she eventually goes away. I expected so much more from Vron and it was disappointing to see her reduced to a creepy, one dimensional villain. She could have been so much more.
An English Ghost Story is a slow burning haunted house novel with an eerie atmosphere and lyrical writing. My problems stemmed from the characters, their stereotypical transformations, and the lack of a resolution. The ending has the family too frightened to even disagree with each other for fear of angering the ghosts. What kind of life is that? Never truly resolving conflicts or having yourself be heard is just frustrating and awful. The ending left me less than satisfied.
An English Ghost Story is kind of a bland and nondescript title, so I didn't really know what to expect. It doesn't disappoint. Kim Newman writes beautifully. The first third of the book introduces the characters and shows their idyllic existence when they first move into the Hollow. The family starts to heal, putting aside their petty differences and coming together. I love how instead of crazy infodumping information about the family and their background, it was seamlessly integrated into the text without interrupting the story. I also grew to care for the family as their pasts were fleshed out piece by piece to compare to their present selves. I am frankly jealous of their house. The chest of drawers with Mary Poppins-esque magic is my favorite object. The ghosts revealed themselves to each family member in an endearing and entertaining way. The house seemed to embrace them while they got along, but this didn't last. The old conflicts eventually resurfaced, causing the ghosts to help each member in their ultimate goal: to come out victorious.
My problem with the novel starts when the family begins to turn on each other. Each member of the Naremore family becomes obsessed with one thing or another. The father Steven becomes obsessed with dominating his household with an iron fist. The women must serve him hand and foot and follow him without question. He becomes more and more abusive as the novel goes on, eventually coming to blows with his daughter Jordan. The son Tim becomes more and more entrenched in his army fantasy where he alone protects the house from intruders and their attacks. He also turns his sights on Jordan as a perpetrator. The men of the house exhibit extreme, stereotypically masculine behavior and target the women of the house to subjugate. I was hoping these tropes would be subverted in some way, but the change to back to normal is very abrupt. They don't seem to even process what was wrong or why they did things.
The women go through a similar change. The mother Kirsty rails against her family and their life, insisting that her life with Vron, her best friend who she left behind, would be better. She looks back on her past failures and only sees her family getting in her way. Then she resolves to be rid of them. This reaction in Kirsty is more shocking because mothers tend to be more nurturing, but I just don't buy it. It's based on a very tired stereotype about women and I feel it would have been just as shocking to hear out of Steven. She does successfully rid herself of Tim at one point, but it seems to only serve to make her the meek, subservient wife that Steven wants because her ambition led to what she thought was her child's death. Jordan collapses inward and becomes anorexic after breaking up with her boyfriend. She becomes a shadow of herself, but then suddenly realizes that she looks just fine and ceases to be anorexic. This angered me because people go to therapy and work on their body dysmorphia for years to overcome eating disorders. To have it come and go so swiftly points to a lack of understanding and another stereotypical female reaction to rejection.
This brings me to Vron, Kirsty's mysterious best friend. Everyone calls her a witch ad her friendships are deemed toxic. It isn't ever really explained why or how, just simply understood. I immediately doubt their word because the circumstances seem suspicious and characters are notoriously unreliable. It seemed to me that one of the big reasons they moved there was because Steven hated Vron and wanted to isolate Kirsty from her friend. This just shows that Steven was a patriarchal husband even before the ghosts got a hold of him. The whole situation just rubbed me the wrong way and smacked of impending abuse. Then Vron actually arrives on the scene and she seems like a maniac. The ghosts protect the house from her and she eventually goes away. I expected so much more from Vron and it was disappointing to see her reduced to a creepy, one dimensional villain. She could have been so much more.
An English Ghost Story is a slow burning haunted house novel with an eerie atmosphere and lyrical writing. My problems stemmed from the characters, their stereotypical transformations, and the lack of a resolution. The ending has the family too frightened to even disagree with each other for fear of angering the ghosts. What kind of life is that? Never truly resolving conflicts or having yourself be heard is just frustrating and awful. The ending left me less than satisfied.
December 23, 2020
A family move from the city to the country to heal what's happened in their past. They find themselves sharing their new home with the ghosts of the land. This is more about the family and how they're trying to recover from their trauma than about ghosts and the supernatural. It's quite gentle in parts and the haunting is mostly subtle. It's a nice enough read and would make a perfect Sunday night telly adaptation.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 233 reviews