THE ASH HOUSE

RELEASED OUT NOW! 348 pages | Paperback/ebook/ audiobook

Author Angharad Walker

Publisher Chicken House

Stories that engage both children and adults are fairly common in dramatic form, but rarer in fiction, where the language can be trickier to navigate across the age divide. It takes a lot of skill.

Fortunately it’s a skill that debut author Angharad Walker has in spades. Aimed at children aged 10+, The Ash House tells the story of a boy suffering from an unknown affliction, who’s taken from his hospital bed and delivered to a mysterious property where he’s greeted only by other children. The Headmaster, he’s told, is away. Unable to remember his name, the boy is named Solitude – a “niceness” admired by the children, who are all named after such virtues.

Sol quickly befriends Dom (short for Freedom), but is treated with suspicion by the other children, who worry that his illness will bring the Doctor to the House. And they do not want the Doctor to arrive.

This is a compelling, emotion-filled book that grips right from the start. Walker effortlessly conjures a world just a few steps away from our own, and convincingly fills it with children who are both impressively mature and heartbreakingly fragile, supplying enough gasps along the way to keep readers of all ages involved and engaged. And while the ending may either disappoint or delight, it’s sure to leave you thinking about it. Rhian Drinkwater