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AOIFE
A ghost who refuses to fade.
A prison officer haunted by more than the night shift.
A brother condemned for a crime he didn’t commit.
When twenty-five-year-old Aoife Miall is found dead under tragic and mysterious circumstances, the world believes her brother Caden is to blame. He’s sentenced to life inside a cold, high-security British prison. But death hasn’t silenced Aoife—only changed how she can be heard.
Now a spirit bound between worlds, Aoife lingers in the shadows of the Victorian-built prison, watching over Caden with a love that refuses to die. But she is not the only one who senses something is terribly wrong.
Axton Bowe, a seasoned night-shift officer, is used to the unsettling silence of the landings—flickering lights, restless inmates, and the echo of old stories carved into stone. But when strange mists, perfume in empty corridors, and impossible glimpses of a young woman begin to stalk his nights, Axton realises the haunting inside these walls is more than legend.
Drawn together by a presence he can’t explain, Axton finds himself pulled into a supernatural mystery that threatens everything he believes about duty, justice, and the dead who refuse to stay silent.
And Aoife?
She’s running out of time to reveal the truth—before Caden loses hope… or before the real killer strikes again.
Perfect for readers who
A prison officer haunted by more than the night shift.
A brother condemned for a crime he didn’t commit.
When twenty-five-year-old Aoife Miall is found dead under tragic and mysterious circumstances, the world believes her brother Caden is to blame. He’s sentenced to life inside a cold, high-security British prison. But death hasn’t silenced Aoife—only changed how she can be heard.
Now a spirit bound between worlds, Aoife lingers in the shadows of the Victorian-built prison, watching over Caden with a love that refuses to die. But she is not the only one who senses something is terribly wrong.
Axton Bowe, a seasoned night-shift officer, is used to the unsettling silence of the landings—flickering lights, restless inmates, and the echo of old stories carved into stone. But when strange mists, perfume in empty corridors, and impossible glimpses of a young woman begin to stalk his nights, Axton realises the haunting inside these walls is more than legend.
Drawn together by a presence he can’t explain, Axton finds himself pulled into a supernatural mystery that threatens everything he believes about duty, justice, and the dead who refuse to stay silent.
And Aoife?
She’s running out of time to reveal the truth—before Caden loses hope… or before the real killer strikes again.
Perfect for readers who
192 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 27, 2025
2 people are currently reading
5 people want to read
About the author
Darren Stafford
3 books1 followerDarren Stafford is a serving prison officer whose writing explores grief, love, and the unseen forces that bind people across time and loss. Shaped by lived experience, his fiction is rooted in memory, redemption, and emotional endurance.
When not writing, he enjoys reading, collecting vinyl, travelling, and reflecting on the quiet details that define the human journey.
He is the author of AOIFE, a prison-set ghost romance, and A Song for Elara, a sapphic novel about love, absence, and the lives we carry with us. His second sapphic novel, When We Were True Blue, is released in May 2026. AOIFE and A Song for Elara are available now.
When not writing, he enjoys reading, collecting vinyl, travelling, and reflecting on the quiet details that define the human journey.
He is the author of AOIFE, a prison-set ghost romance, and A Song for Elara, a sapphic novel about love, absence, and the lives we carry with us. His second sapphic novel, When We Were True Blue, is released in May 2026. AOIFE and A Song for Elara are available now.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 20, 2026
Confusing and jumbled content
October 7, 2025
As an ex colleague and friend of the author who I bonded with over our love of books I promised Darren I would give an honest review of his first novel.
Aoife is not a book I would normally choose to read however as Darren is a friend I had to support in buying it!
I absolutely loved it had a bit of everything love, crime, redemption with a ghostly theme. It had me captivated from page one.
I warmed to all of the main characters and could relate to them all. I’m hoping there will be a second book as I’m curious as to what is next for the characters and would love to see the story evolve. Well done Darren please can we have a sequel.
I would highly recommend this book even if you don’t think the genre is for you give it a read you won’t be disappointed.
Aoife is not a book I would normally choose to read however as Darren is a friend I had to support in buying it!
I absolutely loved it had a bit of everything love, crime, redemption with a ghostly theme. It had me captivated from page one.
I warmed to all of the main characters and could relate to them all. I’m hoping there will be a second book as I’m curious as to what is next for the characters and would love to see the story evolve. Well done Darren please can we have a sequel.
I would highly recommend this book even if you don’t think the genre is for you give it a read you won’t be disappointed.
November 15, 2025
Book Review: AOIFE by Darren Stafford
AOIFE is a chilling, beautifully atmospheric blend of gothic romance, supernatural mystery, and prison drama, offering a story that is as heartbreaking as it is haunting. Darren Stafford’s debut novel is steeped in grief, injustice, and tragic passion — a dark fantasy where love endures beyond death and truth refuses to stay buried.
At its core is Caden Lee Miall, a man falsely imprisoned for the brutal murder of his sister, Aoife. Locked away in a modern prison designed like a decaying Victorian fortress, Caden survives only through routine and the faint hope of redemption. Stafford paints Caden with remarkable tenderness — a gentle soul trapped in a nightmare, clinging to dignity in a system built to crush it.
Enter Axton Bowe, a weary officer disillusioned by the institution he serves. Working the Christmas night shift, Axton doesn’t expect anything to break the monotony… until he meets Caden. What begins as compassion soon deepens into an intimate emotional connection — one shadowed by the presence of something otherworldly.
Because Aoife’s spirit has not moved on.
Lingering in the prison’s cold corridors like a memory made flesh, Aoife’s ghostly presence weaves a spectral triangle between herself, her grieving brother, and the man beginning to care for him. As strange scents, shifting shadows, and flickers of her form begin to break the boundary between worlds, Aoife becomes both guardian and witness — torn between protecting Caden and her own growing attachment to Axton.
Stafford’s storytelling is rich with atmosphere:
the claustrophobia of the prison
the ache of unresolved love
the eerie brush of unseen hands and unspoken truths
What emerges is a gothic romance wrapped in a supernatural mystery, a story where heartbreak transforms into determination, and where justice may come only through the intervention of the dead.
Stafford writes with emotional depth and keen insight, drawing from his real-world experience as a prison officer to portray the environment with unsettling authenticity. Themes of grief, redemption, love, and the ghosts we carry rise through every page.
AOIFE is a chilling, beautifully atmospheric blend of gothic romance, supernatural mystery, and prison drama, offering a story that is as heartbreaking as it is haunting. Darren Stafford’s debut novel is steeped in grief, injustice, and tragic passion — a dark fantasy where love endures beyond death and truth refuses to stay buried.
At its core is Caden Lee Miall, a man falsely imprisoned for the brutal murder of his sister, Aoife. Locked away in a modern prison designed like a decaying Victorian fortress, Caden survives only through routine and the faint hope of redemption. Stafford paints Caden with remarkable tenderness — a gentle soul trapped in a nightmare, clinging to dignity in a system built to crush it.
Enter Axton Bowe, a weary officer disillusioned by the institution he serves. Working the Christmas night shift, Axton doesn’t expect anything to break the monotony… until he meets Caden. What begins as compassion soon deepens into an intimate emotional connection — one shadowed by the presence of something otherworldly.
Because Aoife’s spirit has not moved on.
Lingering in the prison’s cold corridors like a memory made flesh, Aoife’s ghostly presence weaves a spectral triangle between herself, her grieving brother, and the man beginning to care for him. As strange scents, shifting shadows, and flickers of her form begin to break the boundary between worlds, Aoife becomes both guardian and witness — torn between protecting Caden and her own growing attachment to Axton.
Stafford’s storytelling is rich with atmosphere:
the claustrophobia of the prison
the ache of unresolved love
the eerie brush of unseen hands and unspoken truths
What emerges is a gothic romance wrapped in a supernatural mystery, a story where heartbreak transforms into determination, and where justice may come only through the intervention of the dead.
Stafford writes with emotional depth and keen insight, drawing from his real-world experience as a prison officer to portray the environment with unsettling authenticity. Themes of grief, redemption, love, and the ghosts we carry rise through every page.
January 11, 2026
When I first started reading this book and knowing the author is a prison warden I was expecting something totally different than what I got, However it was with a bonus as it was out of my expectations. Working nights in a prison surrounded by by all kinds of criminals who has committed all kids of various crimes would be soooky and knowing that “ trouble” is never far away, then through in ghostly essence of a female haunting him eerily but not in a nasty way, and lurking on the edge of supernatural you have a very well written story. It did take me a while to get used to this as like I explained I had a totally different idea in my head, but I came around to it….
Then the author throws in some music you will recall (I’m sure) of times gone by, which does tie in with relevance to the story. It’s quite a poetic type of book among all the hardwire of a prison, did it work? At first I thought maybe, maybe not, but by the time I got to the last chapter with it all tying in and on reflection this book is different and offers a reader a new experience in light supernatural ghost tales I personally thought,
Just one thing I’d like to pick up there were a few repetitive sentences I’d love the author to read and reflect on due to it being …oh didn’t he write that before….syndrome.
A part from this I think I’d definitely have given it 5*
Then the author throws in some music you will recall (I’m sure) of times gone by, which does tie in with relevance to the story. It’s quite a poetic type of book among all the hardwire of a prison, did it work? At first I thought maybe, maybe not, but by the time I got to the last chapter with it all tying in and on reflection this book is different and offers a reader a new experience in light supernatural ghost tales I personally thought,
Just one thing I’d like to pick up there were a few repetitive sentences I’d love the author to read and reflect on due to it being …oh didn’t he write that before….syndrome.
A part from this I think I’d definitely have given it 5*
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews