Beth Green

by Nicci Rae

Like any community with its shared history and secrets, the East End of London has its ghosts and there are times that Will Thorn feels like one of them as he goes about his job on the London Underground unnoticed by anybody but his close family and friends – Until, that is, the day that, during a station evacuation, he finds a young girl covered in dirt cowering on a ledge inside one of the tube tunnels. At first considered foreign or mute, it soon becomes clear that Beth, named after the station she was found in, is, in fact, able to speak, although the impossible things that she says fill Will with awe and fear:

In a community which still very much feels the sorrow of a tragedy from seventy years ago, word soon spreads throughout London and the rest of the country about the ‘Miracle of Bethnal Green’ and Will’s quiet and ordered life is turned upside down as he tries to protect the strange and unsettling child from the vultures of the press. But is Beth Green all that she seems?

197 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 7, 2016

About the author

Nicci Rae was born in Barrow in Furness and lived in Bahrain for some years as a child before moving to London at the age of 17 to work in the music industry.
Having worked for record labels such as Mute and East West, she recently worked as Technical Specialist for Universal Pictures, London. She lives in Harrow, Middlesex where she co-presents a once weekly show on Harrow Community Radio and is currently working on a format for an on-air book club.

Her latest novel 'Beth Green' bridges the gap between modern life and war torn Bethnal Green in a gripping and spooky tale of a child found cowering in a tunnel in a tube station in East London.

Reviews

[Maureen Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was intrigued by the blurb on this novel and it sounded like just the sort of story I like to read. I was not disappointed. I loved the way Ms Rae took a real wartime disaster and turned it into a fictional tale of suspense. I had never heard of the Bethnal Green tube station accident so not only was I entertained by a fantastic story but I learned about a piece of London wartime history. The title of the book was the first piece of brilliance. Using the station name and shortening it to give an identity to one of the victims was without doubt a clever idea. The author built up the creepy atmosphere in the early stages and ran with it throughout the book. The pace never slowed as we first suspected and then acknowledged the strangeness of little Beth Green, a child found in the underground station by Will Thorn, a railway worker. Could she really be the spirit of a child killed in a dreadful accident many decades before? I won't reveal more because this book deserves to be read and read. I loved it.

[Pat Gerber-Relf · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grew up in Bethnal Green in the East End of London and so the title of this book awoke my curiosity. In 1943 a terrible accident happened in the underground tube station of Bethnal Green. The station had not been completed before the war and the tracks had not yet been laid, so it was a welcome opportunity to use as an air raid shelter from the bombing attacks. There was an alarm, people rushed into the station and a lady with a child in her arms fell on a bottom step. In the panic others fell resulting in 173 deaths, 60 of which were children. The cause was not an air raid, but testing a new gun in nearby Victoria Park. Nicci Rae has now written a novel based on this event. It is fiction, with a touch of supernatural, but I enjoyed it, especially as I knew all the places mentioned in the novel. I had a connection to this book and enjoyed it very much, hence my 5 star rating. Perhaps for someone who is not a cockney or from Bethnal Green it may not be so interesting.

[NoirBlogger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very enjoyable book-slightly lost it's way towards the end but a very interesting story. I've read another book about this event in history (Bethnal Green station tragedy) so was familiar with the story. Not the author's fault but the Kindle version needs some work on the format

[pat cann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought provoking tale

I'd seen the news article about the Bethnal Green memorial, and this book made me interested in reading more. A good mystery tale, tinged with current real life, and to me local places.
Well written with lots of intrigue and sadness.

[Lorraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn’t really know what to expect when I started this book that was recommended to me. I have to say it was a fantastic read and I’m glad I’ve read it.