The Haunting at Blackwood Hall [Kindle Edition]

Barrymore Tebbs (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Blackwood Hall is a house shrouded in silence. Nine-year-old Alice Fenn communicates only through her music. Jonathan Fenn and his sister Judith guard a terrifying family secret. The servants refuse to discuss the mysterious disappearance of a former governess. A drawing room séance attempts to make contact with the spirit of Elizabeth Blackwood. And when a diabolic madman holds the residents of Blackwood Hall hostage to an insidious reign of terror, governess Claire Ashby finds herself in a living nightmare of drug addiction, pagan rituals, and murder.

In the tradition of the great Gothic Romances, The Haunting at Blackwood Hall is a thrilling ghost story brimming with bold new twists on the beloved conventions of a bygone era.

The Haunting at Blackwood Hall is a full length novel of approximately 63,000 words.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Barrymore Tebbs is a photographer and writer living in Cincinnati, Ohio. His writing combines elements of Gothic Romance, Horror, and the Psychological Thriller.

Product Details

• File Size: 2014 KB
• Print Length: 257 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1479287423
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: The Midnight Room Books (June 7, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0089QKM9G
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #155,222 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An exciting thriller that does not disappoint June 10, 2012

By Ann Kirihara

Format:Kindle Edition

I just finished reading this latest book from Barrymore Tebbs. This is another winner and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves a good scare. I couldn't put it down cause I wanted to know who was doing what to whom. There are many twists and turns and you don't know who's the good guy and who isn't. I was totally faked out by one character but I won't mention which one. Suffice it to say I couldn't stop reading it until I was done. This would make such a good movie and I kept trying to picture who would play each role. I'm so glad I found Barrymore cause I am loving the way he spins a tale. More books, please Mr. Tebbs!!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars You won't be able to stop reading this one! December 14, 2012

By Loves to Read

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Mr. Tebbs knows how to write a Gothic mystery that kept me glued to my Kindle from the first to the last page. I've read this genre since I was a teenager in the 1970s, and this novel has everything you want in a spooky Gothic, including the requisite mansion on the English moors. I enjoyed that the protagonist, Claire, isn't the typical weak and frightened woman that we often find in the old school novels. She's strong and outspoken and unafraid to give her opinions. The storyline is very creative. There is a haunting and more possible ghosts, witchcraft, an abbey in ruins, stories of strange monks, drug use, a secret passageway, and more than one villain. And boy are the villain(s) creepy and scary! Great story I'd recommend to everyone who loves Gothics. Please write another one soon, Mr. Tebbs!

4.0 out of 5 stars Reignites an old tradition of gothic horror March 27, 2013

By Katie Silver

Format:Kindle Edition

A well written classy period novel - as someone who wouldn't normally chose a period book I was pleasantly surprised with this ghostly tale. I cant say I was at any time actually scared, but the characters are well written, with flesh on their bones and enough suspense builds up through the story to keep you coming back for more!

I couldn't help but feel our main protagonist a young woman called Claire was more forthright and outspoken than a woman in her position as a governess in a large house could have ever been. But that it was needed for the ebb and flow of the story to be continued.

The book is based in Dartmoor, and having holidayed in that area when I was younger, I can certainly see why the moors could and probably do evoke such tales and a sense of loneliness and fear.

When Claire's parents both die, the young woman, a highly talented musician in her own right is left slightly stranded, her father's death leaving debts which require the sale of the family home. So she does what many young well brought up women in her position did, she becomes a governess, but not to any ordinary family does she go; her charge is a young nine year old girl called Alice who has many special abilities but with them many special problems! Add to this the fact that Blackwood Hall has its secrets and the family living there being about as unhappy and dysfunctional as they come. But its when the strange and ghostly happenings start that the story really comes alive, and the addition of a man, whose strange behaviour and alcohol fuelled antics causes even more angst and fear in the already scared house....

I enjoyed The Haunting of Blackwood Hall, the author has had the book very well edited and the flourishes and extra illustrative touches in the e-book make it a nice read. If I had one criticism, it would be that the it felt perhaps just a little formulaic, I could see most of what was going to happen coming, but it is eminently readable, with a delightful twist! If you are fed up of vampires and zombies The Haunting at Blackwood Hall reignites an old tradition of gothic horror full of ghostly suspense!

Katie

Razberry Juice Read more ›

3.0 out of 5 stars Scary March 18, 2013

By A. Customer

Format:Kindle Edition

I love to be scared which is often difficult to do for me, but this one did deliver scary. I liked the drug connection to the ghosts, as I have experienced similar situations with my own hauntings with this correlation. I do recommend this book, especially since it's fiction and not based on a true accounts.

5.0 out of 5 stars Twisted take on the gothic genre March 18, 2013

By Eric

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

A young woman takes a job as a governess in an dark old house, and uncovers all of the family's secrets. Sounds familiar, right? What if the secrets involve drug addiction, ritual sacrifice, threats of cannibalism and spiders crawling out of a characters' mouth?
Tebbs takes a bunch of conventions from the gothic romance genre, and updates them without changing the language, delivering on the promises made by the genre's most lurid covers (ironically in a book with a very subtle cover). The first half sets up the more typical aspects of the story, and about the midpoint (with the introduction of a very creepy character named Bahktu) things start to get crazy and really fun.
I've read all of Barrymore's available stuff up to this point, and really enjoyed all of it. If you're curious about his work, I'd recommend this as a perfect place to start.

4.0 out of 5 stars A perfect ghost story February 12, 2013

By T. S. Leonard

Format:Kindle Edition

I liked this work. It was a page turner and a good read for all. This book will capture you from the start and will not let you go.

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Gothic Story February 4, 2013

By Sally Anne Slapcabbage

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

It has been a while since I read a good gothic "ghost" story, and I was not disappointed by this one. It's hard to go wrong with a gloomy castle or manor house out on the moors!

5.0 out of 5 stars Surprise ending! February 3, 2013

By Texaspup

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I really liked this book and it kept me turning pages. The ending is not what you expect for a ghost story and this is much more then a Ghost story!

More About the Author

Barrymore Tebbs is a photographer and writer living in Cincinnati, Ohio. His writing combines the brooding atmosphere of the Gothic novel with the unexpected twists and turns of the Psychological Thriller... often served with a liberal dose of black humor. Very black.

In 2013, Razberryjuice.com named him an up and coming independently published horror writer to watch. Readers comment that his books are "historical, doom-laden creepfests about people struggling (and often failing) to make sense of the situations they find themselves in."

He is as much inspired by the garish imagery and overwrought story lines from Hammer Films and Dark Shadows as he is by the subtle finesse of 20th Century writers such as Shirley Jackson, Daphne Du Maurier, and Thomas Tryon.

He is also the owner of the weblog, The Midnight Room, where he writes occasional commentary about Gothic art, fiction, and film