A skeleton is dug up at the crossing of the ways on Hanging Moor, striking dread into the heart of Old Ma Ramsgill - the elderly matriarch of the village of Thruscross. And with good reason. The eighteenth-century witch, Jennet, has been woken.
A spate of killings by a vicious black dog gives credence to her warnings and the community - in particular her family - realise they are in terrible danger.
Drastic measures are needed to contain her, but with the imminent flooding of the valley to create a new reservoir, do they have the ability to stop her and break her curse?
Likened by independent reviewers on Amazon to the Brontë sisters, Edgar Allen Poe, Barbara Erskine and Nathaniel Hawthorne, Karen Perkins' tales are filled with unflinching honesty and an acute understanding of human nature. She explores not only the depths of humanity, but the depths of human motivation behind the actions and pain people inflict upon each other, as well as the repercussions of these actions not only in the short term, but also the later generations who live with the implications of the past.
**
Review
Praise for the Yorkshire Ghost Stories on Amazon:
"This is the most well-researched, intense and spookiest book I've ever read" - Author Amy Queau
"Ms Perkins makes the art of writing look easy,a sure sign of a talented writer and gifted story-telling. 5 stars." - Author JJ Toner
"Perkins mesmerised with her period dialogue and rich descriptions of life" - AjoobacatsTOP 1000 REVIEWER VINE VOICE "A beautifully written tale of obsession and possession." - Kathy" One of the best books I've read in a long time." - Loves to Read
"The book is most skilfully written in a similar vein to Barbara Erskine" - maureen turner-books by maureen" Well-written with delightfully spooky twists" - K. Grace
"I enjoyed the read...one reviewer gave a nod to Bronte... I would give it a nod toward a modern Fall of the House of Usher by Poe" - Eagle
"This is one of the best written ghost stories that I have ever read . Karen Perkins really knows how to hold one in suspense and on the edge of their seat." - Avid Reader
"Beautiful flow" - Dodger
"This is one of the best books that I have had the pleasure to read in a long time." - Elaine Richards
"Its North Yorkshire setting comes alive and Karen Perkins imbues it with a sinister quality that certainly spoke to me! Karen Perkins is an author to watch" - Katie B
From the Author
Author Q &A with Karen Perkins:
First, the obvious questions for an author writing ghost stories: Do you believe in ghosts? Have you ever seen one?
Yes, I do - I have seen, heard and felt things for which I can find no other explanation, in fact The Haunting of Thores-Cross was inspired by one such experience, but that is included in the book, so no spoilers!
Apart from seeing figures and orbs, and having seen objects move, I have experienced the spirit of a young girl walking through me, then run giggling down the corridor (the ghost, not me - I ran, but was certainly not giggling!). I have known when people have died, and have slowed the car more than once because I 'knew' there was an accident or a traffic jam around the next corner! There is definitely more out there than we yet understand.
Your Yorkshire Ghost Stories draw heavily on their settings - what is it about Yorkshire that inspires such tales?
The landscape is so diverse - in some places breathtakingly beautiful, and in others bleak and inhospitable, yet still has an innate, raw beauty in spite of harsh moor and barren rock, and in every landscape, life thrives. The people, and their histories, are just as rugged, diverse and complex - you will not find more hospitable folk anywhere in the world, yet you can live in rural Yorkshire for decades and still be considered an incomer. I was born here, and whilst I enjoy travelling, I adore coming home, and find an incredible peace in the call of an owl, or the burbling of a stream - or a storm raging across an open moor.
The Haunting of Thores-Cross is a very powerful book, and Jennet a complex character, where did she come from?
Thank you - it's also a very personal book. I feel a deep connection to Thruscross (its original Viking name: Thores-Cross), and spent many happy childhood days there, having various adventures on the shores and waters of the reservoir (in fact, the modern character, Emma, shares my childhood and dreams - although I hope that's all!). I wrote the book after a long period of ill-health which resulted in my feeling very isolated - and I had a telephone and a TV, my family and friends had cars and visited often. I took that feeling of isolation and imagined what it would have been like to be isolated, even vilified, within a small, remote community; a community that was essentially someone's whole world. Just what would that do to a person? How would it change them? How would they cope? My answer is Jennet.
In Knight of Betrayal you write about the assassination of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, in 1170, but tell the story from the perspective of the knights who wielded the swords. What made you focus on them rather than Becket and Henry II?
I live close to Knaresborough Castle, but only recently realized that the knights who assassinated Thomas Becket hid out there for at least a year after their deed, and was very surprised how difficult it was to find out more about them. It is something that is largely ignored locally, as well as in the history books. There is very little information about them, apart from a widespread scorn and hatred, and that piqued my interest. Why is so little known about them? Why would four knights travel days by horse and ship in deeply religious medieval Europe, to murder a cleric?
I wanted to understand what motivated the knights and how they would have coped as first England, then the whole of Christendom, and ultimately their king and fellow nobles turned against them. As I researched and created a timeline of what is known (or at least accepted) and my characters developed, I found myself changing my mind more than once about what was most likely to have happened all that time ago. In the end, I had to follow my knights as I would fictional characters and let them tell their story within the bounds of the known facts. Knight of Betrayal is the result.
Description:
**#1 Bestseller Horror Short Stories
1 Bestseller British & Irish Short Stories
1 Bestseller Short Stories for Young Adults
Jennet's here. No one is safe.**
A skeleton is dug up at the crossing of the ways on Hanging Moor, striking dread into the heart of Old Ma Ramsgill - the elderly matriarch of the village of Thruscross. And with good reason. The eighteenth-century witch, Jennet, has been woken.
A spate of killings by a vicious black dog gives credence to her warnings and the community - in particular her family - realise they are in terrible danger.
Drastic measures are needed to contain her, but with the imminent flooding of the valley to create a new reservoir, do they have the ability to stop her and break her curse?
Likened by independent reviewers on Amazon to the Brontë sisters, Edgar Allen Poe, Barbara Erskine and Nathaniel Hawthorne, Karen Perkins' tales are filled with unflinching honesty and an acute understanding of human nature. She explores not only the depths of humanity, but the depths of human motivation behind the actions and pain people inflict upon each other, as well as the repercussions of these actions not only in the short term, but also the later generations who live with the implications of the past. **
Review
Praise for the Yorkshire Ghost Stories on Amazon: "This is the most well-researched, intense and spookiest book I've ever read" - Author Amy Queau "Ms Perkins makes the art of writing look easy,a sure sign of a talented writer and gifted story-telling. 5 stars." - Author JJ Toner
"Perkins mesmerised with her period dialogue and rich descriptions of life" - Ajoobacats TOP 1000 REVIEWER VINE VOICE
"A beautifully written tale of obsession and possession." - Kathy " One of the best books I've read in a long time." - Loves to Read "The book is most skilfully written in a similar vein to Barbara Erskine" - maureen turner-books by maureen " Well-written with delightfully spooky twists" - K. Grace "I enjoyed the read...one reviewer gave a nod to Bronte... I would give it a nod toward a modern Fall of the House of Usher by Poe" - Eagle "This is one of the best written ghost stories that I have ever read . Karen Perkins really knows how to hold one in suspense and on the edge of their seat." - Avid Reader
"Beautiful flow" - Dodger
"This is one of the best books that I have had the pleasure to read in a long time." - Elaine Richards
"Its North Yorkshire setting comes alive and Karen Perkins imbues it with a sinister quality that certainly spoke to me! Karen Perkins is an author to watch" - Katie B
From the Author
Author Q &A with Karen Perkins:
First, the obvious questions for an author writing ghost stories: Do you believe in ghosts? Have you ever seen one?
Yes, I do - I have seen, heard and felt things for which I can find no other explanation, in fact The Haunting of Thores-Cross was inspired by one such experience, but that is included in the book, so no spoilers!
Apart from seeing figures and orbs, and having seen objects move, I have experienced the spirit of a young girl walking through me, then run giggling down the corridor (the ghost, not me - I ran, but was certainly not giggling!). I have known when people have died, and have slowed the car more than once because I 'knew' there was an accident or a traffic jam around the next corner! There is definitely more out there than we yet understand.
Your Yorkshire Ghost Stories draw heavily on their settings - what is it about Yorkshire that inspires such tales?
The landscape is so diverse - in some places breathtakingly beautiful, and in others bleak and inhospitable, yet still has an innate, raw beauty in spite of harsh moor and barren rock, and in every landscape, life thrives. The people, and their histories, are just as rugged, diverse and complex - you will not find more hospitable folk anywhere in the world, yet you can live in rural Yorkshire for decades and still be considered an incomer. I was born here, and whilst I enjoy travelling, I adore coming home, and find an incredible peace in the call of an owl, or the burbling of a stream - or a storm raging across an open moor.
The Haunting of Thores-Cross is a very powerful book, and Jennet a complex character, where did she come from?
Thank you - it's also a very personal book. I feel a deep connection to Thruscross (its original Viking name: Thores-Cross), and spent many happy childhood days there, having various adventures on the shores and waters of the reservoir (in fact, the modern character, Emma, shares my childhood and dreams - although I hope that's all!). I wrote the book after a long period of ill-health which resulted in my feeling very isolated - and I had a telephone and a TV, my family and friends had cars and visited often. I took that feeling of isolation and imagined what it would have been like to be isolated, even vilified, within a small, remote community; a community that was essentially someone's whole world. Just what would that do to a person? How would it change them? How would they cope? My answer is Jennet.
In Knight of Betrayal you write about the assassination of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, in 1170, but tell the story from the perspective of the knights who wielded the swords. What made you focus on them rather than Becket and Henry II?
I live close to Knaresborough Castle, but only recently realized that the knights who assassinated Thomas Becket hid out there for at least a year after their deed, and was very surprised how difficult it was to find out more about them. It is something that is largely ignored locally, as well as in the history books. There is very little information about them, apart from a widespread scorn and hatred, and that piqued my interest. Why is so little known about them? Why would four knights travel days by horse and ship in deeply religious medieval Europe, to murder a cleric?
I wanted to understand what motivated the knights and how they would have coped as first England, then the whole of Christendom, and ultimately their king and fellow nobles turned against them. As I researched and created a timeline of what is known (or at least accepted) and my characters developed, I found myself changing my mind more than once about what was most likely to have happened all that time ago. In the end, I had to follow my knights as I would fictional characters and let them tell their story within the bounds of the known facts. Knight of Betrayal is the result.