This book tempted for so many reasons. It came with a media brief that talked about it as a mystery, but it's also sub-titled "A Ghost Story", which intrigued. And on a less intellectual level it's the most beautifully presented little hardback with a wonderfully tactile dust cover and I simply couldn't resist it.
From the Blurb:
Returning home from a visit to a client late one summer's evening, antiquarian bookseller Adam Snow takes a wrong turning and stumbles across the derelict old White House. Compelled by curiosity, he approaches the door, and, standing before the entrance feels the unmistakeable sensation of a small hand creeping into his own, 'as if a child had taken hold of it'.
Opening Lines:
It was a little before nine o'clock, the sun was settling into a bank of smoky violet cloud and I had lost my way. I reversed the car in a gateway and drove back half a mile to the fingerpost.
Returning home from a visit to a client late one summer's evening, antiquarian bookseller Adam Snow takes a wrong turning and stumbles across the derelict old White House. Compelled by curiosity, he approaches the door, and, standing before the entrance feels the unmistakeable sensation of a small hand creeping into his own, 'as if a child had taken hold of it'.
Intrigued by the encounter, he determines to learn more, and discovers that the house owner's grandson had drowned tragically many years before. At first unperturbed by the odd experience, Snow begins to be plagued by haunting dreams, panic attacks, and more frequent visits from the small hand which become increasingly threatening and sinister ...