Dark Storm by Sarah Singleton

Ellie is staying with her maternal grandparents for the summer, while her recently bereaved dad takes off on holiday with his new girlfriend. Upset by his apparent callousness, missing her mother, and jealous for her dad's attention, she begins to spiral into depression. Her grandparents suggest she joins a local theatre group, to meet people her own age and get away from the dark thoughts that threaten to engulf her. But then she gets roped into a seance at the theatre, and is the only one who actually sees a real ghost. Now a spirit is contacting her from beyond the grave - and as the dead boy's story unfolds, Ellie finds herself falling in love with him. But if she solves his mystery and helps release his soul, will he be lost to her forever?

It seems that Sarah Singleton can't not write creepy books. And there is nothing wrong with this, in my opinion. In The Amethyst Child she explored a young girl getting involved in a cult; In The Poison Garden she gives us a murdery mystery set in the 1850's that kept me guessing right to the end.

In Dark Storm she's given us a haunting romance. I do not use these words lightly.

Ellie is such a complex character, someone who is still struggling to come to grips with her grief over the loss of her mum who died from cancer not too long ago. Ellie and her dad nursed her mum through the illness and Ellie suffers from pangs of depression, doubt and anger at her mum, herself, her dad. She feels that people who see her now, immediately know what she's been through, that her mum's illness and death has somehow left its mark on her. She's also deeply resentful of her dad who seems to have walked away from her and the memories of her mother. He's found a new girlfriend and they've gone on holiday to the States. They had asked Ellie to come along but she couldn't stand the thought of doing that and instead chooses to go and spend her time with her Nan and Granddad at the seaside, hoping to rekindle the memories of going there with her mum.

Ellie is not my favourite person. She still isn't. She seems selfish, self-absorbed and so intensely focused on her own misery, she doesn't seem to notice how her actions are hurting those she loves. The case being her grandparents and her dad. She mopes, she sulks, she's occasionally quite rude. And even though I didn't like her, I did understand exactly where she was coming from, as I too had lost my mum young and so I could empathise with her to a certain extent, but I did also want to shake her and tell her to get over herself, to realise how much she still has to be grateful for. This is a clear indication of a character getting under your skin and for that, I applaud Ms. Singleton wholeheartedly.

It's when Ellie discovers a paper theatre in the local secondhand bookshop and take it home that the weird things start happening.  Someone else writes in her diary and the messages are there when she wakes up in the morning.  Then, when she goes to join the theatre group for their production of Midsummer Night's Dream, that things go into overdrive.  Ellie somehow has a connection to the ghostly boy who writes her notes, who does everything in is power to lure her over to his world.

I wanted to run away when I read certain sections of the book.  Ellie is in such a fragile state of mind, that she falls wholeheartedly for the enigmatic ghost boy who tells her he's waited for her for a very long time.  Their romance is so Romeo and Juliet that it made me well up a few times, but like R&J's story, there are much darker elements than some people may expect.  Ellie becomes so involved in discovering the story about the theatre she has at home, with her ghost boy, with their family history, that she forgets to live in the present.

She looks past her friends and doesn't see them, not really.  Her obsession becomes deeply unhealthy and in part it replaces her grief for her mother.  As Ms. Singleton breaks it down and puts it all back together again, the outcome is not entirely what you may expect, but there is a resolution and parts of it, again, had me sobbing like a girl.

Because of its powerful writing and the exploration of grief in all its forms it's a deeply reflective book but then, it is also about redemption and family and so many more things.  It's a beautiful book in many ways, but it's also a very tough book to read, or I found it anyway, because I think I could identify with Ellie so much.  Another thing I'm now desperate to do after finishing Dark Storm is to have a wonderful UK seaside summer holiday. I'll wisely steer clear of theatres and graveyards.

Dark Storm is out in a few weeks' time, at the end of March and I apologise for reviewing it now, as it is a long lead-up time to the actual release but I just had to get the review out and talk to someone about it.  Even if it is my computer screen.  And also, it may give you a chance to go ahead and read some of Sarah's other fab titles.

The Poison Garden by Sarah Singleton

Synopsis:

It is the 1850's, and a young boy, Thomas, leaves his family to be apprenticed to a pharmacist, at the behest of his dead grandmother. He also inherits a magical box from her, which provides him entry into a mysterious garden. But while visiting it, he sees a ghostly vision of his grandmother, who tells him she was poisoned, and warns him that he must find the person responsible, and save her precious garden. For she was one of five members of an arcane guild, each of whom cultivated an individual garden, mastering the art of poison, perfume and medicine. The guild members jostle for power as, one by one, they are murdered... can Thomas solve the mystery, before he in turn is threatened?

I fell in love with Sarah Singleton through reading The Amethyst Child last year. This is from part of the review I did for The Amethyst Child:

The Amethyst Child is not really a book that you read as much as experience. It is an absolutely gripping book which I would highly recommend reading for Sarah Singleton's deft touch with the poetic pen, vibrant characterisation and for her pure unadulterated storytelling skill.

Sarah has moved on from this almost dreamlike summer laden novel from last year to offer us a deeply dark, wonderfully Gothic novel in The Poison Garden.

Written with an deceptive ease and skill we very quickly come to know the 1850's world Thomas inhabits. We are drawn into the strange garden he discovers and to the story of the arcane guild, relatively newly resurrected and by the driven character whose shadow seems to loom throughout the novel.

The story moves swiftly and is peppered with eccentric and intriguing characters, anyone of whom could be responsible for his grandmother's death. The group calling themselves the Guild of Medical Herbalists is a small and intimate one. The suspect list is limited and as each bit of information gets added to the story, you find yourself nodding and saying "maybe him...maybe her..."

It is a competently written murder-mystery with Thomas being the central figure holding all the strands. He is a lovely creation - at first slightly shy and hesitant but his character growth is well plotted and soon we have a very capable, stubborn and ultimately a very likeable character on our hands who starts unravelling the plot and picking up clues.

Some parts are terrifically complex and surreal and I felt that younger readers may not entirely quite grasp some of the concepts, which is why this should be handed to slightly older readers who enjoy more of a challenge. There are some grisly bits, as there is bound to be, but what is most striking in this novel is the complexity of the world Ms. Singleton's created. I would have loved for the novel to be a bit longer - purely because I wanted to spend more time with Thomas - and that is entirely a personal thought.

As The Poison Garden is one of our Summer Reads, I get to score it and am happy to give it a well deserved 7.5 stars our of 10.

The Amethyst Child, Sarah Singleton

AMBER LACKS FLAIR AND ORIGINALITY OF THOUGHT TO BE AN OUTSTANDING STUDENT OF ENGLISH.

Big ugly words scrawled in a journal highlights so much of the pain of main character in The Amethyst Child by well established and favourite Sarah Singleton.

In The Amethyst Child, we meet Amber - a fourteen year old teenager, highly creative, fond of daydreams, preferring her own company to those of people she just doesn't "get". She's maybe a bit goth on the inside, but not on the outside. She seems to live past her very down to earth and real parents who believe in goodness and light. Her dad loves Dire Straits, her mom is strong and steady and looks after everyone when she's not working in a jewellery store. They live in a newly built area and it is easy to imagine the town, the school, Amber's disillusion with her family and her own life and her helplessness. She finds solace by reading and writing but it's Summer holidays and Amber is bored.

Then she meets Dowdie who lives on a commune close by called the Community and her life takes a dramatic change. Dowdie is wild and searingly bright when compared to Amber's muted tones. She experiences Dowdie in technicolour and sees herself as monochrome. But somehow, they fit. Together they make a whole. They become steadfast friends, spending lots of time together. They visit the Community and Amber becomes smitten with the seemingly carefree lifestyle of those who belong to the Community. Then she meets James, the person who runs the Community and initially all goes well. Amber is told about the Amethyst Children, the children who will lead the world in the future. The Amethyst Children are people who are creative, instinctive, they do not get along well with others and they have inherent powers and skills so much needed when the time comes. And the time will be here shortly because society will fail and the need for the Amethyst Children will be dire. And both Amber and Dowdie are two of these Amethyst Children who needs special care and attention because on their shoulders rests tomorrow.

I loved Sarah Singleton's prose. We have a fantastic narrator in Amber. We experience her seemingly dull and ordinary life and sense her talent and her fears for the future for herself, her parents and the world in general. She is highly intuitive and such an easy target for Dowdie and James as she desperately craves - like we all do - that extra bit of attention, to be told she is special and needed. As she gets more closely dragged into the web of the Community and becomes closer to James and Dowdie, my heart ached for her. The story spins along beautifully with parts told in the present, then the past, as Amber tells the Police about this mysterious event to which she was witness to and it isn't until quite far into the book that you start to comprehend the exact magnitude of what it could be that had happened.

As a counter-foil to James and Dowdie's fiery beliefs, we have the fantastically sober and beautifully rendered Johnny who styles himself as a "emo fag". Tremendously talented, he would love to be a photographer but has his own issues with his parents, the system, school, the games people play. He is the sane voice, the voice that tries talking sense into Amber, to make her see sense. But things are very shaky.

I don't know how the author managed to hit that exact spot which I so distinctly remember as a teen when life felt both so hopeless and impossibly grand at the same time. She writes with poetic skill and such understanding that the characters never veer off into BBC stock teenagers. The book is genuinely unputdownable. The characterisations are brilliant and there is a lot of thoughtful conversation and insights from both Johnny and Amber about life, family and friends. It is a very grown up book and it makes no apologies for using very mature concepts and ideas and relaying them through these teens. Personally I think this is not just something that should be read by teens but by adults of all ages.

What is important is that the book and Amber comes a full circle. It started with Amber sitting on a bridge over the river, staring at its waters, as someone not part of the world, but observing it. We leave Amber taking the plunge into the water, having pocketed her fears, experiencing life.

The Amethyst Child is not really a book that you read as much as experience. It is an absolutely gripping book which I would highly recommend reading for Sarah Singleton's deft touch with the poetic pen, vibrant characterisation and for her pure unadulterated storytelling skill.