A Gathering of Ghosts

A Gathering of Ghosts by Karen Maitland

Published by Headline

September 2018

1316. On the wilds of Dartmoor stands the isolated Priory of St Mary, home to the Sisters of the Knights of St John. People journey from afar in search of healing at the holy well that lies beneath its chapel.

But the locals believe Dartmoor was theirs long before Christianity came to the land. And not all who visit seek miracles. When three strangers reach the moor, fear begins to stir as the well's waters run with blood.

What witchcraft have the young woman, the Knight of St John and the blind child brought with them?

The Sisters will need to fight for everything they hold dear as the ghosts of the Old World gather in their midst.

This is the latest of Karen Maitland's novels and possibly the darkest that I've certainly read.  Set on Dartmoor in the 14th Century, the plot centres around the Priory of St Mary and those who work there.  The Sisters of the Knights of St John are threatened by the arrival of two Knights who are determined that Prioress Johanne and the Sisters will bow down to them, and that their sacred well will come under their protection, as well as the taxes that they collect.  The Sisters have worries more pressing of their own to deal with though after the discovery of a dumb and blind boy by the well.  Who is this child and why has he been left at the Priory?  The death of Father Guthlac who predicts that nothing good will happen at the Priory should the child remain there worries some of the Sisters, and as unexplained phenomena begin to occur at the well, the child's life is indeed at risk, for there are those who seek to protect him, and those that think he brings with him a curse.

Outside of the Priory live the mining community, a band of men, women and children who are fighting to survive during the famine that is engulfing the country; some of them will stop at nothing to feed themselves and their families and it really is every man for himself across Darmoor.  When two strangers who meet on the moor come across the tinners their lives are changed forever - Todde who is on the run from him previous master, and Sorrel, a woman with a disfigured arm, who has been called by a woman's voice to travel to Dertemora where she meets a local family of witches.  

The setting is perfect for this story - wild, barren and desolate; the moors are captured brilliantly throughout the book and you can certainly try to imagine what it must have been like to have been there so many centuries ago.  There are fewer characters than in previous Maitland novels and actually I liked this as it meant I wasn't flipping back and forth trying to remember who was who, and it gives each character more of an opportunity to have more of a story-line and to be built up in more detail.  I think this is probably my favourite of her novels so far and a perfect read for an autumnal evening in front of the fire!

Happy Reading

Miss Chapters x