They also don’t seem like friendly ghosts given that most of them just stare at Olivia and Olivia can’t look at them directly without scaring them off. These are “ghouls” with missing body parts, skin sloughing off, and bones bare. It also helps that Olivia can see ghosts and not friendly ghosts like Casper. The atmospheric writing puts you right into the story. Seriously, the spook factor in this book is prevalent right from the beginning. And as the days go by for Olivia, she finds out more and more about the house, her family, and what lies beyond the walls. But Olivia is determined to make this work especially since the two people who work at Gallant knew her mother. When the school receives a letter from a mysterious uncle having her return to Gallant, she’s immediately sent off only to find that she’s not wanted. All she has is a journal her mother kept with strange entries, inky illustrations, and a warning for Olivia never to go to Gallant. She’s left at a Preparatory school that her mother leaves her when she was very young. Olivia has always wanted to belong somewhere, but will she take her place as a Prior, protecting our world against the Master of the House? Or will she take her place beside him?įind it on Amazon | Find it on My thoughts Now Olivia sees what has unraveled generations of her family, and where her father may have come from. The manor is crumbling, the ghouls are solid, and a mysterious figure rules over all. When she crosses a ruined wall at just the right moment, Olivia finds herself in a place that is Gallant-but not. Olivia knows that Gallant is hiding secrets, and she is determined to uncover them. But Olivia is not about to leave the first place that feels like home, it doesn’t matter if her cousin Matthew is hostile or if she sees half-formed ghouls haunting the hallways. Yet when Olivia arrives, no one is expecting her. Then, a letter invites Olivia to come home-to Gallant. Olivia Prior has grown up in Merilance School for girls, and all she has of her past is her mother’s journal-which seems to unravel into madness. A seam, where the shadow meets its source. And as with every shadow, there is a place where it must touch.

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