An eerie tale of young girls' obsession and what happens when it grows out of hand, perfect for fans of dark academia, The Secret History and Picnic at Hanging Rock.
1864. Banished from her parents' farm to a boarding school for young ladies, Ivy feels utterly alone. In a crumbling and isolated seminary that has seen better days, she is shunned by the other pupils for her working-class origins, and mourns for her sister, who died not long after she was sent away.
Hope comes in the form of a new teacher, Miss Emily White, but almost immediately, suspicions are raised that she is not all she should be. Ivy is captivated, yet as her devotion grows, odd reports begin to circulate that Miss White has been glimpsed in the garden picking flowers whilst also teaching a class, leaving the school but stalking the halls at the same time.
As increasingly strange rumours abound, Ivy's obsession spins out of control, and with Emily White's future at stake, she will do anything to keep her only friend.
Genre: Horror
1864. Banished from her parents' farm to a boarding school for young ladies, Ivy feels utterly alone. In a crumbling and isolated seminary that has seen better days, she is shunned by the other pupils for her working-class origins, and mourns for her sister, who died not long after she was sent away.
Hope comes in the form of a new teacher, Miss Emily White, but almost immediately, suspicions are raised that she is not all she should be. Ivy is captivated, yet as her devotion grows, odd reports begin to circulate that Miss White has been glimpsed in the garden picking flowers whilst also teaching a class, leaving the school but stalking the halls at the same time.
As increasingly strange rumours abound, Ivy's obsession spins out of control, and with Emily White's future at stake, she will do anything to keep her only friend.
Genre: Horror
Praise for this book
"Delicately disturbing, elegantly uncanny, A. J. Elwood's novel shuts us in a school where even the ghostly can be a release and leads to a conclusion that's as poignant as it is disquieting. A real treat for connoisseurs of the classic supernatural tale." - Ramsey Campbell
"A.J. Elwood draws us into an intricate, clastrophobic world brimming with menace. The strange after-image of Emily White will linger with readers long after the final page." - Verity M Holloway
"A.J. Elwood has carved a solid reputation with her spooky and hauntingly beautiful historical fiction. This novel is no exception, and its brilliance surely cements her place as one of the finest British writers working today in any genre." - Tim Lebbon
"Darkly enthralling, with a deftly woven and sinuous plot, secrets abound in this beguilingly gothic tale of teenaged obsessions and sinister manifestations." - Lucie McKnight Hardy
"Readers beware! The mystery at the heart of A.J. Elwood's latest eerie and elegant novel is so irresistibly tantalising that everyday commitments will fall by the wayside as you feel compelled to read 'just a few more pages', and then 'just a few more', in your bid to uncover the truth." - Mark Morris
"A hugely atmospheric tale set in the repressed atmosphere of a young ladies' Victorian boarding school, that will have you looking over your shoulder at every sound." - Marie O'Regan
"Enough to make you scared of your own shadow." - Priya Sharma
"Elwood is today's supreme author of the Victorian uncanny. She plunges you in and doesn't let you go. I'm addicted." - Stephen Volk
"The Other Lives of Miss Emily White is a gothic treat: class, femininity and the hothouse atmosphere of a Victorian boarding school make the perfect backdrop for a story of obsession and hysteria. Elwood's way with words is absolutely enchanting, and I didn't want this book to end, but when it did... !" - Ally Wilkes
"A.J. Elwood draws us into an intricate, clastrophobic world brimming with menace. The strange after-image of Emily White will linger with readers long after the final page." - Verity M Holloway
"A.J. Elwood has carved a solid reputation with her spooky and hauntingly beautiful historical fiction. This novel is no exception, and its brilliance surely cements her place as one of the finest British writers working today in any genre." - Tim Lebbon
"Darkly enthralling, with a deftly woven and sinuous plot, secrets abound in this beguilingly gothic tale of teenaged obsessions and sinister manifestations." - Lucie McKnight Hardy
"Readers beware! The mystery at the heart of A.J. Elwood's latest eerie and elegant novel is so irresistibly tantalising that everyday commitments will fall by the wayside as you feel compelled to read 'just a few more pages', and then 'just a few more', in your bid to uncover the truth." - Mark Morris
"A hugely atmospheric tale set in the repressed atmosphere of a young ladies' Victorian boarding school, that will have you looking over your shoulder at every sound." - Marie O'Regan
"Enough to make you scared of your own shadow." - Priya Sharma
"Elwood is today's supreme author of the Victorian uncanny. She plunges you in and doesn't let you go. I'm addicted." - Stephen Volk
"The Other Lives of Miss Emily White is a gothic treat: class, femininity and the hothouse atmosphere of a Victorian boarding school make the perfect backdrop for a story of obsession and hysteria. Elwood's way with words is absolutely enchanting, and I didn't want this book to end, but when it did... !" - Ally Wilkes
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Used availability for A J Elwood's The Other Lives of Miss Emily White