Promotional Information

A chilling debut novel inspired by a haunting folk song about murder, witchcraft and revenge.

About the Author

Lindsey Barraclough was born in Essex. She worked as a music teacher and lives in London with her husband and their five children. Her debut novel, Long Lankin, was published in 2011 to critical acclaim and was shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award, the UKLA Children's Book Award, the We Read Prize and the Southern Schools Award, and longlisted for the Carnegie Medal and the Waterstones Book Prize. It was also named one of the best 100 YA novels by the American Young Adult Library Services Association.

Reviews

The terror is as relentless as the ballad the story springs from . . . Chilling
*Observer*

A fabulous revisiting of the hoariest of old chestnuts
*Daily Telegraph*

Not for the faint-hearted, this mesmerizing tale generates goosebumps on almost every page
*Booktrust*

A real stunner of a debut: Long Lankin is a wonderful, imaginative slow burner of a thriller . . . Lindsey Barraclough's first novel is written with a style and intelligence that would put many an adult thriller to shame
*Young Post*

Such an impressive debut. Every element is spot on - from the elegant prose, through the realistic portrayal of various aspects of family life, the three-dimensional characters and the occasional comic set-piece, to the supernatural horror underpinning it, which is absolutely chilling. Highly recommended
*The Bookbag*

Well written and well paced, with more than a sprinkling of hair-raising moments
*TES*

A story to get lost in
*Booklist*

Barraclough's debut, which is based on a centuries-old British ballad, is a ghost story through and through, chock-full of mysterious apparitions, strange voices, cryptic warnings, and townsfolk who chorus beware
*Publishers Weekly*

The story, based on a traditional poem, moves to a chilling conclusion
*Irish Examiner*

Barraclough's depiction of Bryers Guerdon, a village half-immersed in mist-clad marshes, is as vivid as it is frightening; its silent and close-lipped inhabitants are reminiscent of those of Crythin Gifford in Susan Hill's The Woman in Black. Much of our time is spent in Guerdon Hall, a sinking wreck of a house, exploring the dusty tombs of its abandoned rooms. As the action builds, the cellar and, perhaps most notably, the nearby churchyard become the focus of a gripping, supernatural climax
*Fletcher Moss*

Gr 7 Up-A centuries-old curse has claimed the lives of young children in the English village of Byers Guerdon. When 12-year-old Cora and her little sister, Mimi, forced by family circumstances on their Auntie Ida, show up at Guerdon Hall, the ancient curse revives. The text's colloquial, mid-20th century British English will be jarring to American listeners. While the horror story, set in the late 1940s in Britain, is excellent, it is so slowly paced that there is almost no action until well into the fourth CD. From that point, tedium (the reading of old accounts of the origin of the curse) alternates with gruesome detail before delightfully scary action takes over. Listeners who have the patience to slog through the first half of the tale will be rewarded. Ann Flosnik is somewhat uneven in her voicing of the children. A local boy named Roger, who befriends Cora and, with his brother Pete, helps unravel the mystery, remarks of her East-End accent-dropping her "aitches-but in the sequence, Cora repeatedly voices "home," "hall," etc. The slight differences in accent will not be apparent to most listeners. Flosnik is far better at the upper-crust voice of Auntie Ida. Musical interludes are nicely creepy.-Nina Sachs, Walker Memorial Library, Westbrook, ME (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

The terror is as relentless as the ballad the story springs from . . . Chilling -- Geraldine Brennan * Observer *
A fabulous revisiting of the hoariest of old chestnuts * Daily Telegraph *
Not for the faint-hearted, this mesmerizing tale generates goosebumps on almost every page * Booktrust *
A real stunner of a debut: Long Lankin is a wonderful, imaginative slow burner of a thriller . . . Lindsey Barraclough's first novel is written with a style and intelligence that would put many an adult thriller to shame -- John Millen * Young Post *
Such an impressive debut. Every element is spot on - from the elegant prose, through the realistic portrayal of various aspects of family life, the three-dimensional characters and the occasional comic set-piece, to the supernatural horror underpinning it, which is absolutely chilling. Highly recommended -- Jill Murphy * The Bookbag *