A House of Ghosts by William Ryan

A House of Ghosts crosses genre boundaries to create an original story that I found both touching and exciting. Set in 1917, the cataclysmic losses families and communities across Britain suffered during WW1 are presented sensitively in the context of a strong plot that involves crime and espionage. I do not think it is helpful to seek comparisons with Christie or Buchan. In order to fully appreciate this book it is essential to forget stereotypes, suspend disbelief and go with the flow.

Kate, the protagonist, has inherited the power to see the future in an antique mirror passed down in her family. This is an ideal superpower for a girl whose day job is secret agent, and it proves invaluable as she forms a team with upwardly mobile army officer Donovan to find out what is going on in the cellars where the skeletons of long-dead monks line the walls. Kate is presented to the reader as being brave and pragmatic, which is a refreshing take on heroines who too often come across as passive shadows of their male associates.

The aristocratic Highmounts invite their circle of friends to an island off the English coast. There, they take part in seances in the hope of contacting their two soldier sons who died in the trenches. Kate and one other member of the party can see ghosts. The reactions of the community of ghosts inhabiting the ancient homestead to the actions of the living is described from Kate’s point of view and forms a useful commentary on the action. I found this part of the novel hypnotic and believable.

The scope of this novel is wide: the supernatural, war and the place commerce plays in it, love, family conflicts, the class system, the struggle between right and wrong. I recommend it as an interesting and enjoyable read which will also make you think. To get the most out of this book, the reader must forget genre boundaries, suspend disbelief and go with the flow, to allow themselves to be led on a journey through time and place.