Does Downton Abbey have a Ghost? By Alison Stuart

I’m thrilled to introduce author, Alison Stuart. Lawyer by day, writer by night, a fantastic volunteer at all other times, and a woman with a penchant for men in uniform, she loves losing herself in the world of historical romance.  She’s here today to talk about her latest novel, Gather the Bones which is a fantastic story about a house, a ghost and two people trying to rebuild their lives.

  

Hello! A huge thank you to Lee and the girls of Tote Bags n Blogs for inviting me to blog this Sunday.

I’m not Fiona Lowe (for those that were expecting her) but she is a very dear friend of mine and I had all the excitement of being her ‘date’ at the RITAs in Anaheim. The mad Australian screaming like a teenager at a Bieber concert when Fiona’s name was announced...yes, that was me (the photo is of Fiona Lowe (left)  and myself at the RITAs). If you haven’t read BOOMERANG BRIDE yet, do yourself a favour. It’s a lovely read. 

I was recently tidying my bookshelves (actually it is still a major work in progress) and as I started to sort my books into categories, I noticed that the “ghosts” pile was looking alarmingly high. I had no idea I had accumulated so many “real life” ghost stories. From York in England to New Orleans, I have tramped the dark streets of many an old town behind someone in costume carrying a lantern and while I haven’t, to my knowledge, ever encountered a ghost face to face (as it were), I have been in places where I have felt extremely uncomfortable. Nothing, but nothing, will induce me back into the dungeons of Warwick Castle and the arches in Edinburgh was a dark, evil place.

My interest in ghosts probably stems from one of my mother’s stories. As a young woman she toured the Youth Hostels of Wales by bicyle. In one old castle she was woken in the night by the sensation of someone brushing her cheek. She opened her eyes in time to see, quite clearly, a woman vanish through the wall next to her bed. Now my mother is not a superstitious woman (as long as you don’t have peacock feathers in the house, spill salt on the table or wear an opal), at least certainly not given to flights of fancy.

I have worked in two very well documented haunted buildings.  Both buildings had originally been fine 19^th century homes but had been occupied by the Australian Army for many, many years. “Esmerelda” the ghost of Grosvenor, reputedly the ghost of an unhappy servant girl murdered by the butler, wafted around the corridors of Brigade Headquarters. Her nightly prowling had reduced the Brigade Regimental Sergeant Major (a grizzled British Army veteran who had seen active service in Northern Ireland) to the point where nothing would induce him to spend a night in the building. She satisfied herself by keeping my little office permanently cold and switching my computer on and off.  My offsider (a man of no imagination who certainly was not acquainted with her story)  is the only person who actually saw Esmerelda-- to the fury of the regular staff who had been secretly hanging out for a sighting.

My own little town is one of the oldest settled sites in Victoria and in its day was a rough port area. Convicts were housed in rotting hulks off the point and laboured in the blue stone quarry. The ghost of the cruel overseer murdered by the convicts is often sensed by visitors on our own Lantern Ghost Tours (which I have yet to go on!).  Every pub (and in its heyday there were hundreds of them) has its own ghost story and, according to my friend who runs the Lantern Tours, not all of them are Casper the friendly ghost.  I often think it is quite a good thing that I’ve never actually seen a ghost!

I have also lived in Singapore and in the Chinese tradition August is Hungry Ghost Month. During this month, it is believed the king of hell opens the gates of hell to allow ghosts to visit the living world. It is the only time of year that ghosts are released to freely roam the Earth. They have to pacified with offerings and during that month, the scent of burning incense papers hangs over the island like a pall. Not surprisingly, even for a tiny island, Singapore has enough ghost stories to fill several books with a few local vampires (the bomoh) thrown in for good measure!

There is something about the story surrounding the unrequited spirit that cannot find rest that really appeals to the writer in me. I have published a couple of short stories but never tried a full length novel and the first seed of Gather the Bones was sown. I already had the setting, a wonderful old medieval moated manor house called Baddesley Clinton  (in Warwickshire) and I invested it with its spectral inhabitants (although I’m sure it has plenty of its own). 

The terrible impact of the Great War gave me the time period and although my story was written long before Downton Abbey hit the screens, there are resonances of the fading glory of the British Empire. I deliberately set it in 1923, just on the cusp of change when the “bright young things” (of which my grandmother was one) changed English society forever. 

So  we have GATHER THE BONES - a “Downtonesque” novel with ghosts, romance and a mystery to be solved... 

I have a giveaway of one of my earlier books, the award winning BY THE SWORD . To be in with a chance to win, tell me about a  ghostly experience or, if you prefer, talk about your favourite fictional ghosts.

To read one of my short stories THE PROMISE (and it is only short) click HERE. 

Alison Stuart is an award winning Australian writer of historicals with heart.  Whether duelling with dashing cavaliers or wayward ghosts, her books provide a reader with a meaty plot and characters who strive against adversity to find their happy-ever-after. 

Alison is a lapsed lawyer who has worked in the military and fire service, which may explain a predisposition to soldier heroes.  She lives with her own personal hero and two needy cats and likes nothing more than a stiff gin and tonic and a walk along the sea front of her home town.  She loves to hear from her readers and can be found at her website, facebook, twitter and Goodreads.  Gather The Bones (Lyrical Press) is available now at Amazon, Nook and all other eBook retailers.