The Haunting

Called upon to exorcise dark spirits, will Father Oliver live to tell the tale?

Paul Doherty delves into the murky world of the Victorian ghost story in The Haunting, a spine-chilling tale of the unknown. Perfect for fans of The Others and Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black.

In October 1866, Father Oliver Grafeld is brought from his parish work for an interview with Archbishop Manning of Westminster. Oliver is a hard-working, committed priest, and he has one gift – that of the exorcism of ‘divining spirits’. The Archbishop tells Oliver that Lady Seaton, owner of Candleton Hall in Norfolk, has appealed to the Church for assistance in allaying the terrifying and haunting experiences taking place at the Hall. Father Oliver goes to Candleton and within hours, he and his sister Emma have first-hand experience of the phenomena: pools of blood form on the floor, a woman dressed in black walks the Long Gallery, the sound of knocking, cries in the night and hurried footsteps and, above all, a sense of malevolence which seeps through the house. Painstakingly, Oliver, a natural scholar, delves into the family secrets of the Seatons and finds chilling truths which span four centuries.

What readers are saying about The Haunting:
‘This is truly one of Doherty’s masterpieces‘
‘The reader is hooked from page one, a page turner of the first order’
‘By far the most gripping and interesting book I have read for a long time’