Felix is desperate to serve the guests upstairs so he can listen to the ghost stories they share, but the honour goes to the housekeepers daughter, until she can bear them no longer. But when he gets his chance, Lord Byron has finished his tale and Mrs Shelley is out of stories. But this night stories are required as a face appears at the window, before a persistent knocking can be heard from the front door. Desperate to show Lord Byron he is worthy of being his footman, Felix opens the door, and a girl, who is clearly dead, falls in..

Emma Carroll skilfully weaves the known facts of 1816’s gothic summer at Villa Diodati, attended by Lord Byron and the Shelleys, with the heartbreaking tale of a family being slowly torn apart by naïve beliefs and a freak accident, and the blind ambition of a scientist determined to make the greatest scientific discovery the world has ever known by any means necessary.

I may have started sitting comfortably, but within pages, I was on the edge of my seat and stayed that way until I’d finished it. An eerie and enthralling, dark gothic tale of love and kindness versus pushing boundaries at any cost. One to be shared carefully in a Primary School.

Great for fans of historical fiction,and books that scare you, just a little bit…