The Company of Ghosts
The Company of Ghosts is set on a wild and haunted island off the coast of Scotland. When Ellie is left there, alone, by her friend’s brother George, mysterious happenings begin. The island is tiny, with only an abandoned lighthouse and a deserted cottage. There is no way of contacting the outside world. Part ghost story, part teenage romance, it’s a favourite spooky read for 10+. Carnegie medal nomination.
Available from Amazon.
Published by Andersen Press, October 2013, ISBN 978-18493979292.
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It was a seascape, moody with rocks and cliffs and wild showers of spray. Ellie’s own reflection was drawn into it, like a ghost image among the lights and shadows.
“That’s our island,” Morag said.
“It looks mysterious.”
“It is. That’s where we’re going tomorrow.”
The Company of Ghosts was shortlisted for the Stockport award, the Sheffield award, Warwickshire award and Wirral Paperback of the Year. It won the Oldham Brilliant Book award for its category and was runner-up for the Tower Hamlets award. It was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal.
A short summary of ‘The Company of Ghosts’
Ellie desperately needs a break from home when her mother tells her she is going to re-marry. She misses her father and longs to see him again. Her friend Morag invites her to the family’s beautiful island, but as soon as they set off, things go wrong. Finally, she is left alone there by Morag’s brother George. There’s nothing on the island except a deserted lighthouse and the keeper’s cottage. She has no means of getting help.
Then mysterious things happen. Footsteps, shadows, strange lights, a haunting song; slowly she becomes aware that she is not really on her own. Ellie is desperate to keep herself sane, but she is also haunted by memories of what has been happening in her home life. And where is George? Why doesn’t he rescue her? She realises she is beginning to fall in love.
And one day, she meets the ghost, face to face.
I love the way Berlie Doherty writes. She’s easy to read but beautiful too. There’s never a stray word or sentence. She creates credible and interesting characters and here, in ‘The Company of Ghosts’ she combines a ghost story with an exploration of a time of change in a young girl’s life. Each strand melts seamlessly into the other and it makes for a read that is both lovely and unsettling but always absorbing. Highly recommended.
Bookbag
Why did I write it?
I love islands, and I love the sea. I spent my childhood on the Wirral coast, and frequently visited Hilbre Island. Since then I have spent time on other islands, sometimes being the only person there. In The Company of Ghosts I am drawing on memories of islands where I have been both enchanted and afraid.
And I love ghost stories. I am fascinated by the sense of ‘otherness’, outside our natural experience. Maybe that’s what we call our ’sixth sense’. When I was invited by my publishers to write a ghost story I was very excited by the idea. My first thoughts were about the setting. Very often ghost stories are set in houses, usually big, old, rambling houses with creaking doors and dark passages.
I decided I would try to set it in an open space. Would it have the same effect on the plot and atmosphere? I remembered a Scottish island that was exactly right, with its caves and rocks, its screaming gulls, its wild weather. And, of course, its isolation from land. It gave me my perfect setting.
5 stars for ‘The Company of Ghosts’ – other-worldly and beautifully written.
Bookbag on Twitter
‘The Company of Ghosts’ video for Oldham libraries
Below is a video about the book that Oldham libraries asked me to make. The video was made by Kirsten Johnson.
If you enjoyed reading ‘The Company of Ghosts’…
If you enjoy reading ghost stories and mysteries you might also enjoy Nightmare: Two Ghostly Tales and A Beautiful Place for a Murder. Another island story: Daughter of the Sea (also available as a reading set to music). Another teenage romance story: Dear Nobody.
This book was amazing… I love this book and it’s a great read if you like spooky stories or if you want to try something different. I would definitely recommend this book.
Guardian children’s books
The setting of a ghost novel is as important as the plot itself – it almost becomes another character, shaping the story by its distinctive features.
See if you can write a ghost story set in an open space – woodland perhaps, a desert, a distant planet, a street. Think of all the things that make that setting different from anywhere else, and use those features in your story.
This is a beautifully written novel which combines an evocative sense of place with a poignant tale of loss and redemption. The supernatural events are woven skilfully into the narrative, allowing the reader to share Ellie’s uncertainty that they have happened at all. Readers, particularly girls of twelve upwards, will enjoy unravelling the complexities of this book.
The School Librarian