In modern-day England a mother and daughter move into a crumbling Victorian house through
which wind whistles eerily floorboards creak ominously and things go bump in the night. The
ghost of a girl who performed in Victorian freak shows haunts this chilling gothic ghost story
reminiscent of Laura Purcell's The Silent Companions and Alice Hoffman's The Museum of
Extraordinary Things . In 2025 following the break-up of her marriage cash-strapped single
mother Nell moves into the crumbling Merry Hall with her teenage daughter Fern to housesit
for its evasive owner. She's determined to make a new life in the gloomy Victorian mansion but
the noises moving objects and strange smells in her new home make her increasingly unsettled.
In the 1840s showman Abel Wenham seduces Dolly a talented albino girl and makes her the star
of his performing collection of freaks. But after she becomes pregnant with his child he
discards her and imprisons her at Merry Hall where her only solace is the company of fellow
performers Ida the Bear Lady and the Jack the Posturer. They plan to escape with Dolly and her
child and set up in business but Wenham has other ideas. Is Dolly just one of the ghosts that
haunt Merry Hall reaching out across the centuries to right the wrongs of the past? 'Dark
unsettling and beautifully written this gothic chiller is full of surprises. Terrifying but
impossible to put down - I loved it!' Carly Reagon author of The Toll House and Hear Him
Calling 'A darkly gleaming gem of a novel about the persistence of memory and the dangers
lurking in the shadows of an old and brooding house.' A. J. Elwood author of The Other Lives
of Miss Emily White and The Cottingley Cuckoo 'A mesmerising and original gothic tale that I
struggled to put down. Beautifully written dark and delicious. I literally dropped everything
to read it in two days!' Jody Cooksley author of The Small Museum ' The Ghosts of Merry Hall
is a gothic treasure chest full of seedy secrets and eerie charm. I loved Dolly Dove from the
start.' Verity M. Holloway author of The Others of Edenwell
