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1848: It is a time when magic and ghosts exist.
1848: It is a time when magic and ghosts exist.
Four Magnificent Children are captured by Badblood’s Circus.
Theo can look into your eyes and reveal your secret thoughts, which come out of his mouth like a swarm of bees. Ginny has a bird called Blue living inside her. Her ribs are woven together to form a birdcage. Blue perches on a swing made from one of her ribs. And the Thought-reading Twins, Archie and Millie Luxbridge, have an extraordinary ability to read each other’s minds.
They become stars of the circus but are unaware that Badblood has a dark and secret plan.
One hundred years later the children s ghosts appear on an island off the coast of Ireland where a boy called Rua befriends them. Rua discovers that a terrible fate awaits them and, in a desperate race against time, he struggles to learn how they may be saved.
Swirl and Thread and Caroline Busher for #IrishWritersWed:
“The Ghosts of Magnificent Children” was partly influenced by my own childhood. I grew up in a Victorian House on the outskirts of Manchester. I spent my days devouring classic novels and encountered what I believed to be a ghost beneath the floorboards of my Victorian Home.
The Victorians believed in many superstitions that were intrinsically linked to death. One such belief involved mirrors, when a person died in the Victorian Era the family of the deceased would cover every mirror in the house with a black cloth to prevent the spirit of the dead person from becoming trapped inside of it.
I now live in Wexford not too far away from Loftus Hall which is rumoured to be the most Haunted House in Ireland. There is a remarkable story that accompanies the house.
It is believed that a young girl living in the house with her parents was traumatised when a mysterious man arrived at the house one night. During a game of cards the man who had hooves instead of feet flew through the roof’, which has left a hole that can still be seen….”
The book is set in Wexford in general although most of the settings are magical and mystical rather than places you can visit. However if you have even a little bit of magic inside you, maybe you can!
Destination: Wexford Author/Guide: Caroline Busher Departure Time: 1848
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