Ghost by Helen Grant

From Goodreads

"Langlands House is haunted, but not by the ghost you think." Augusta McAndrew lives on a remote Scottish estate with her grandmother, Rose. For her own safety, she hides from outsiders, as she has done her entire life. Visitors are few and far between - everyone knows that Langlands House is haunted. One day Rose goes out and never returns, leaving Augusta utterly alone. Then Tom McAllister arrives - good-looking and fascinating, but dangerous. What he has to tell her could tear her whole world apart. As Tom and Augusta become ever closer, they must face the question: is love enough to overcome the ghosts of the past? In the end, Langlands House and its inhabitants hold more secrets than they did in the beginning... 

My thoughts

This was a recent read at my local Library Reading Group. I gave this a 4 stars or 8/10.

I found this a sad read if I am completely truthful. I felt for 'Ghost' as Augusta was known, brought up by her grandmother Rose, she has lead a very sheltered life and knows only Langlands the house that she has lived in for most of her life. Tom McAllister and his father are employed by Rose to do some minor repairs on the crumbling old house, that they live in. 

Without giving too much away Tom becomes aware that their might be more than one inhabitant living in Langlands, people believe that the house is haunted. Is the haunting of the supernatural kind though or of a more humanly nature? We the reader know which one it is and it's not long before Tom realises which one it is too.

When Rose, leaves the house one day and never returns. Ghost is left alone in the house, how will she survive all alone and what does the future hold for her? It's not long before Tom becomes more involved in the house and with Ghost. There are plenty of secrets that begin to get revealed slowly by him and it's not long before Ghost finds herself forming an attachment to him. 

I really enjoyed this read and it had me wondering where it was going all the way through. As the secrets began to be revealed and the characters became more reliant on one another, I began to feel sad for Augusta as she found out that her life wasn't quite what she had thought. I loved the blossoming relationship between Tom and Augusta. Life can throw curved balls when you least expect it and Augusta's life had had it's fair share of them. I found it similar in some ways to the film The Others starring Nicole Kidman.

I could go on, but I seriously don't want to spoil it for others. My Library Reading Group gave it a 6.5/10 this was the average mark, once all the marks had been added up and divided by the number of people at the meeting. It made for a very interesting discussion indeed.