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Ghost Wall

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About this listen

Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2019

A story at once mythic and strikingly timely, Sarah Moss's Ghost Wall urges us to wonder how far we have come from the 'primitive minds' of our ancestors.

Teenage Silvie is living in a remote Northumberland camp as an exercise in experimental archaeology. Her father is an abusive man, obsessed with recreating the discomfort, brutality and harshness of Iron Age life.

Behind and ahead of Silvie's narrative is the story of a bog girl, a sacrifice, a woman killed by those closest to her, and as the hot summer builds to a terrifying climax, Silvie and the Bog girl are in ever more terrifying proximity.

©2012 Sam Millar (P)2018 Bolinda Coming of Age Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Scary
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This book was on my book club list and I don’t think I would have chosen it otherwise, but what a treat! Thoroughly researched and well written it was very compelling and different. The character of Sylvie’s dad and their relationship was fascinating though disturbing. The book is very well read by Christine Hewitt and I liked the music which added to the atmosphere. The book is short and it was over too quickly. Thoroughly recommend it and will be looking for more books by Sarah Moss.

Atmospheric and engaging

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Unputdownable... if you know what I mean. I loved every minute of this fast-paced and beautifully written account of experimental Iron Age archaeology gone awry.

Unputdownable!

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Great story, of gathering momentum. Sarah Moss has become one of my favourite authors for her melding of current and past, with more than a hint of menace.

The narrator did a very good job, flipping from one accent/voice to another with ease. I’ll even forgive her pronouncing nuclear as newkyoolar.

Hard to put down

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I listened to this in two long sessions and found it addictive, mainly because the quality of the writing and narration were so good that I just could not press the stop button.

Sarah Moss writes exquisitely and in this short novella she has created yet another believable world where humanity's fault lines are ruthlessly exposed.

Silvie, the teenage daughter of a self-taught expert on Iron Age survival skills, accompanies her parents on a summer trip to a remote camp in Northumberland where an experimental archaeological project is taking place. We soon discover that Silvie's father is a brutish, bigoted, misogynistic, racist man who bullies his wife and daughter and physically abuses both of them. Both women will say and do anything for a quiet life but they still bear the marks of his violence.

During the camp it becomes evident that Silvie's father is determined to impose the harsh reality of hunter-gatherer Iron Age life on his family and the female students working on the project; he demands subservience from the women whilst the men enjoy an easier existence and are in charge. Silvie, who is named after an Ancient British goddess, is befriended by one of the students, Molly, who soon begins to question the motives and actions of the bullying father.

Tensions rise between Molly and Silvie's father and when Molly discovers that he and the Professor leading the project plan to subject Silvie to a re-enactment of a ritual sacrifice conducted by ancient Bog People, she intervenes to save her friend from the mens' ambitions and delusions.

A thought-provoking exploration of domestic abuse, family life and friendship set against an examination of the lives of ancient Britons.

A wonderful read. Tense, dark and shocking.

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Really good storyline - different, intriguing and very well read. It pulled me in and the writing was poetic in parts.

well worth the time

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