Why a Booktrail?
2000s and past: A dusty box opens up to release a ghost of a girl with a terrible secret
Snow Sisters
What you need to know before your trail
Meredith discovers a dusty sewing box in a disused attic. Once open the box releases the ghost of Angharad, a Victorian child-woman with a horrific secret she must share. Angharad slowly reveals her story to Meredith who fails to convince her sister of the visitations until Verity sees Angharad for herself on the eve of an April snowstorm.
Forced by her flighty mother to abandon Gull House for London, Meredith struggles to settle, still haunted by Angharad and her little red flannel hearts. This time, Verity is not sure she will be able to save her…
Travel Guide
Visit Wales
Travel with Carol Lovekin to the locations in her novel
Gull house
Gull House is made from weathered stone the colour of storms, oak beams remembering where they once grew. It tilts into wild se-born winds and as children, it was easy to believe, on a stormy night, the wind might lift the whole thing and blow it away
Ethereal and haunting
It is a place of nooks and crannies and deliciously creepy corridors and dark shadows. It’s a house where you’re not sure if the inside is outside or the outside is in, and even though you can’t see it, you can tell it blends in nicely with the surrounding countryside:
It’s a tall Victorian house and approaching it, people are taken back, expecting grander proportions. Instead it’s neat, secluded and undemanding. To the left, nearest the road, a small tower assumes a space that isn’t there – a decorative effect.
oh and your heart will sing when you discover the tower that hides a secret attic…not to mention Nain’s blue garden! You can smell the flowers and feel the fresh air, it’s that evocative.
Gull House suggests birds, wind, breezes and a coastal location . Add to that the magic of the unknown, a ghost girl awakened when a sewing box is opened and you have a fine setting indeed.
Trail Gallery
Booktrailer Review
Susan: @thebooktrailer
Gull House? The language and story soared like the birds the house was named after. It’s a very lyrical novel and the writer crafts each and every word. This is one of those books that is an absolute joy to read – writing which reminds me why I love reading and why the simple things in life such as the grass or the shadows can become something so emotional in the hands of a brilliant writer. The strong writing doesn’t over shadow the plot in any way, it just strengthens it, and the whole novel is one symphony of music, with highs, lows but an atmosphere that is split between foreboding, nostalgic thoughts, dreams, hopes and redemption.
The story of Angharad is beautifully drawn and the ghostly atmosphere flows in and out from each and every page. It’s not your typical ghost story but more of an apparition and an insight that someone who lived in this house before, still need their voices to be heard. The saying walls have ears has never been more appropriate. Whispers in the walls filled in the rest of the story and this mix of past and present fading into each other was a reader’s dream.
It’s very poignant and sad at times but enjoy this book – savour it and read slowly and tingle like I did when you come across a gem of a sentence like this –
Any house you spent the first 15 years of your life in imprints on your heart
My thoughts are opening other doors and I brace myself against a rush of memories
Aaah if mindfulness was a book, it would be this one.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: Snow Sisters
Destination: Wales Author/Guide: Carol Lovekin Departure Time: 2000s and past
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