Ghost Wall - Customer Review

During these unusual times we have been working hard to stay in touch with the members of our shared reading groups to find out what they've been reading.  Some have put down their thoughts as reviews that we'd like to share.  Here's Doreen with her opinion of 'Ghost Wall' by Sarah Moss.

Yn ystod y cyfnod anarferol yma rydym wedi bod yn gweithio’n galed i aros mewn cysylltiad ag aelodau o’n grwpiau darllen i ganfod beth maen nhw wedi bod yn ei ddarllen.  Mae rhai wedi rhannu’u barn ar ffurf adolygiadau ac fe hoffem rannu’r rhain.  Dyma Doreen gyda’i barn am  'Ghost Wall' gan Sarah Moss.

This book is set in Northumberland. It opens with a chilling first chapter, expertly evoked, and fuelling our expectation of what might follow. A Professor of Archaeology and his three students have set up an encampment to engage with the lives of Iron Age people. The Professor is particularly interested in the practice of ritual sacrifice at that time. They are joined by a family of three. The father, a keen historian, has forced his downtrodden wife and seventeen year old daughter to accompany him for their summer holiday. The Professor and students sleep in modern tents but the father, insisting that they should be more authentic, compels his wife and daughter to sleep with him in the Roundhouse, which had been built by the students as part of a course on 'experiential archaeology'. They are dressed like Iron Age people and attempt to eat and behave in the same way. Not only do we see Iron Age practices being pursued but we also observe the psychological and physically abusive relationship of the father towards his wife and daughter.

I found this book an interesting but disturbing read, building on the suspense right up to its conclusion.