But little can prepare him for the solitude of the house itself as he is kept from his guardian and finds himself spending the Christmas holiday wandering the silent corridors of the house seeking distraction. His arrival on the first night suggests something is not quite right when he sees a woman out in the frozen mists, standing alone in the marshes.

One that would be unbelievable if it weren’t true! Michael’s parents are dead and he imagines that he will stay with the kindly lawyer, executor of his parents’ will …Until he is invited to spend Christmas with his guardian in a large and desolate country house. “Michael Vyner recalls a terrible story, one that happened to him.

I do read quite a lot of YA novels but not normally ones aimed at this age range (I would say 10 – 14?) but, having said this it was a good read! The Dead of Winter is suitable for upper primary and high school students.Read the Dead of Winter yesterday – for Halloween – which seemed appropriate. The description of Sir Stephen was well done, easily conjuring the image of a nerve-wracked man, old before his time. He was an appealing character, as was Jerwood, Hodges and Mrs Guston. Maybe I’m just getting older and harder to scare! Still, it was entertainment for a couple of nights, and I did genuinely feel for Michael. The plot was easy to follow, but wasn’t as scary as I expected, and I had a fair idea of what was happening at the house well before it was revealed. I found this to be an average read, with solid writing and strong characters. In particular, the bleak, wintry landscape of the boggy marshes surrounding Hawton Mere reminded me of the novel The Woman in Black, though The Dead of Winter is aimed at a younger audience. It contained similar elements to a few other ghostly mysteries I have read. The Dead of Winter is a ghost story in the tradition of gothic fiction from Victorian times. Upon his arrival it is immediately apparent that there is something not quite right in the house, and that Sir Stephen is also rather odd and foreboding. Michael is invited to stay with them over the Christmas period, which he is very reluctant to do.

Along with his sister, Sir Stephen lives in a large house, Hawton Mere, stood by itself in the middle of some marshes, far from everything and everyone. When Michael’s mother dies, his future is placed into the hands of a distant and unknown guardian, Sir Stephen. The Dead of Winter by Chris Priestley, hardback novel, 218 pages, published by Bloomsbury Publishing in 2010.