Eleven-year-old Alastair leads a lonely life in darkest Cornwall: his parents ignore him, his only friend has moved away, and he’s beset by a plethora of frankly embarrassing nervous conditions that ensures permanent ostracism from the rest of his class. But then who should arrive in the village but Saoirse, a new girl, cool where Alastair’s pathetic, smart where he’s perennially confused, unconcerned with school popularity contests and obsessed with unsolved mysteries involving ghosts. In her wake is her adorably potty-mouthed little brother Billy, crazy, reckless, a force of nature and a law unto himself. Everywhere he goes, Billy creates a hurricane of chaos to which he’s oblivious. Saoirse pressgangs Alastair and Billy into a team of wonderfully incompetent ghost hunters and through their adventure into the village’s murky past, replete with sinister sword wielding ghosts, Alastair is forced to confront his own shortcomings as well as his greatest fears.
I loved this - a mix of funny, creepy suspense and dealing with themes of loss and friendship, there will be lots of familiar feelings and scenarios for readers of this terrific tale, whetehr or not they belive in ghosts themselves! perfect timing, with Halloween on the way in a few weeks, this is a great read for UKS2 and more confident independent readers and fans of Jennifer Killick, Phil Hickes etc.
Massive thanks to Mikka for having me on the blogtour, and to David for providing this exclusive blog piece about the inspiration for the book and his writing:
Blog tour October 2022
What inspired you to write this wonderful book?
I’ve always liked a mixture of comedy and adventure. Especially when the characters wisecrack their way through it. I’m thinking Hope and Crosby’s Road pictures, Spider-Man comics and, yes, Ghostbusters.
I like it when the characters do what they need to do to move the story along, but don’t necessarily take it seriously every inch of the way. Whether or not I adopt this philosophy to the running of my own life is something upon which I simply cannot bring myself to comment.
That said, I basically just come up with the germ of an idea and start writing and see where it leads me. I don’t pretend to truly be in control. Nor to really know what I’m doing. Nor to even kind of know what I’m doing. I think that’s the most fun way to write: just start writing, and see what reveals itself.
Then, if everybody thinks it’s rubbish, you can blame the impersonal muses and get off scot-free.
Does that answer sound boring? Let me try another: a half-man/half-bacon butty came to me in a dream and foretold I’d pen a story initialled TCSCPIS, and, after several days’ toying with such concepts as Twenty Cretins Sipping Cognac Per Ivan’s Stipulation, The Cesspool Snorkellers’ Cholera Plague Infection Scandal and Taco-Chewing Sociopaths Cramping Peter’s Idiosyncratic Style, I threw up my hands and wrote this silly book instead.
Check out what others have to say and see more exclusive content at the rest of these stops on the blogtour this week:
Find out more about publisher, Everything With Words, and author David Wandsworth, via these links:
You can buy a book through links on those pages, or from your local independent bookshop!
Review and blogpost by Rich Simpson (@richreadalot) October 2022.
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