The Ghostlight Chronicles · Book 1
Things That Go Bump in the Night
A ghost-believing boy, his sceptical sister, and an aspiring ghost hunter must uncover the truth behind a haunted mansion before a troubled spirit's past consumes them all.
- Genre
- Kids' middle-grade fantasy
- Structure
- Saga
- State
- Compleate
- Rights available
- World English / Translation / Film & TV
- Audience
- Kids' middle grade (8–12)
- Word count
- 15,162
- Themes
- Friendship, belonging, courage, history and memory
- Narrative style
- Propulsive, accessible and character-driven
- Narrative tone
- Warm, spooky, humorous, hopeful, occasionally poignant
- Timeline
- Present
- Setting
- Somewhere in England
- Narrative Perspective
- 3rd person, past tense
Synopsis
Eight‑year‑old David is convinced ghosts are real. His older sister Emily is equally convinced they aren’t—and insists that, as the older sibling, she is always right. After yet another argument, David blurts out a challenge: he will prove ghosts exist by spending a night at Yew Tree Hall, the abandoned mansion on the edge of their village. Emily, who never backs down from a chance to prove him wrong, accepts.
That night, Emily and David sneak out and hike up the overgrown path to Yew Tree Hall. The house looms over them, cracked and crumbling, its door mysteriously ajar. Inside, they explore the dark, echoing rooms. David jumps at every sound; Emily dismisses each one with a rational explanation—owls, wind, loose floorboards. Yet the atmosphere grows stranger: doors move on their own, objects shift, and distant footsteps echo where no one should be.
They are soon joined by Ameena, a girl from another school, who believes in ghosts and has been teased at school for it. Ameena brings curiosity, a notebook, and a determination to gather “evidence.” Together, the three children encounter the White Lady, a gentle, sorrowful ghost who once lived at Yew Tree Hall as Lady Anne Montague, and the Headless Huntsman, a comic figure whose body and head rarely cooperate. The ghosts explain that not all spirits are like them. A poltergeist haunts the house too—noisy, unpredictable, and frightening even to the dead.
Poltergeist activity escalates doors slam, furniture scrapes, and objects fly across rooms. The children set out to understand what the poltergeist wants. Ameena suspects it is trying to be noticed rather than simply to harm. In the kitchen, they lay out objects as “toys” for it to interact with. The unseen presence plays with pencils, balls, and marbles, and gradually its behaviour softens from violent to playful. When David rolls his marbles across the floor, they roll back to him one by one, as if in a game.
A small white light appears and resolves into the figure of Pip, a Victorian boy about David’s age. He reveals that Yew Tree Hall was once a boarding school, and he was a pupil there. Every night, at the witching hour, he is dragged into a replay of his worst memory: being humiliated in front of the whole school by the cruel headmaster, forced to wear a dunce cap labelled “Bad Scholar” for whispering in assembly. The children are drawn into a time‑slip, watching the scene unfold as if they are present but unable to intervene.
They realise that Pip’s poltergeist behaviour is rooted in fear, loneliness, and the pain of being forgotten. He has been stuck in this loop for over a century, with no one to stand up for him or offer him a way out. David, who has often felt dismissed by Emily, recognises the ache of not being believed. He takes Pip’s hand and tells him he doesn’t have to stay. He invites Pip to “come home” with them—not to live as a normal boy, but to be free to visit, to choose, and to be their friend.
This act of kindness breaks the cycle. Pip begins to glow with warm, golden light, feeling lighter as the burden of his haunting lifts. He thanks the children and dissolves into the light, finally at peace. The White Lady and the Huntsman, inspired by the children’s courage, decide they are no longer afraid of the poltergeist or the house. Yew Tree Hall is their home, and they choose to remain there, no longer trapped by fear.
That night, Emily and David sneak out and hike up the overgrown path to Yew Tree Hall. The house looms over them, cracked and crumbling, its door mysteriously ajar. Inside, they explore the dark, echoing rooms. David jumps at every sound; Emily dismisses each one with a rational explanation—owls, wind, loose floorboards. Yet the atmosphere grows stranger: doors move on their own, objects shift, and distant footsteps echo where no one should be.
They are soon joined by Ameena, a girl from another school, who believes in ghosts and has been teased at school for it. Ameena brings curiosity, a notebook, and a determination to gather “evidence.” Together, the three children encounter the White Lady, a gentle, sorrowful ghost who once lived at Yew Tree Hall as Lady Anne Montague, and the Headless Huntsman, a comic figure whose body and head rarely cooperate. The ghosts explain that not all spirits are like them. A poltergeist haunts the house too—noisy, unpredictable, and frightening even to the dead.
Poltergeist activity escalates doors slam, furniture scrapes, and objects fly across rooms. The children set out to understand what the poltergeist wants. Ameena suspects it is trying to be noticed rather than simply to harm. In the kitchen, they lay out objects as “toys” for it to interact with. The unseen presence plays with pencils, balls, and marbles, and gradually its behaviour softens from violent to playful. When David rolls his marbles across the floor, they roll back to him one by one, as if in a game.
A small white light appears and resolves into the figure of Pip, a Victorian boy about David’s age. He reveals that Yew Tree Hall was once a boarding school, and he was a pupil there. Every night, at the witching hour, he is dragged into a replay of his worst memory: being humiliated in front of the whole school by the cruel headmaster, forced to wear a dunce cap labelled “Bad Scholar” for whispering in assembly. The children are drawn into a time‑slip, watching the scene unfold as if they are present but unable to intervene.
They realise that Pip’s poltergeist behaviour is rooted in fear, loneliness, and the pain of being forgotten. He has been stuck in this loop for over a century, with no one to stand up for him or offer him a way out. David, who has often felt dismissed by Emily, recognises the ache of not being believed. He takes Pip’s hand and tells him he doesn’t have to stay. He invites Pip to “come home” with them—not to live as a normal boy, but to be free to visit, to choose, and to be their friend.
This act of kindness breaks the cycle. Pip begins to glow with warm, golden light, feeling lighter as the burden of his haunting lifts. He thanks the children and dissolves into the light, finally at peace. The White Lady and the Huntsman, inspired by the children’s courage, decide they are no longer afraid of the poltergeist or the house. Yew Tree Hall is their home, and they choose to remain there, no longer trapped by fear.