Time Ghost

by Charles Ashton

While staying at his Great Aunt Rosie's house during the summer holidays, Olly first comes across Old Ronnie, the ramshackle tenant of derelict Minglo Hall. Old Ronnie sees something special in Olly, inviting him to try his precious "hat" - an ancient helmet. When Olly puts it on, he has the strange sensation of living inside someone else's memory. It's just one of a number of odd events and discoveries that seem to be creating a mysterious link between past, present and future. Olly's hippy Uncle Martin reckons there's a time ghost out there, trying to make contact, but why? What is the time ghost's message? And where will it all end?

205 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Paul Kieniewicz · Rating 4 out of 5]

After finishing Time Ghost I found myself asking what is real and what is fantasy. Are the worlds separate? Perhaps as the protagonist's Uncle Marty asserts, "Everything is connected." The story, more like George MacDonald's "Phantastes" than a modern fantasy, is an exploration through time. The young protagonist Olly, stumbles across a half-wit in a decrepit tower, where he tries on an ancient helmet. He is drawn into the world of people who once lived there, and of a woman who has a "living book." Yes, a book that's alive. It is this book that calls to Olly throught time, and is the Time Ghost of the story. Time Ghost, not your garden variety fantasy novel, explores the implications of wishing for material success, rather than letting the process unfold. The author shows convincingly that things do work out if we get out of the way of the higher process. My one criticism is that the plot is slow in developing. It took me a while to figure out how the different threads of the plot connect. But by the second half of the book, I was drawn into Charles Ashton's strange world and found that I couldn't put the book down.