When the Hartley family from Chicago signs a year's lease on Pennwick Hall-a centuries-old Wiltshire manor with six bedrooms, original oak paneling, and one ghost who refuses to leave-they expect culture shock. They don't expect Sir Aldous Pennwick. Dead since 1683, Sir Aldous has haunted his own ancestral home for three hundred and forty-two years, trapped by a curse his father laid with mortar and righteous contempt.
The only way out: a blood kinsman must perform a true act of bravery. Not a gesture. Not a performance. Something real, that costs them something. Sixteen-year-old Theo Hartley has a birthmark on the back of his neck he's never thought much about-and a pattern of freezing when it matters most. He stepped off the starting block. He went quiet when his friend needed him to speak. He's chosen silence over truth more times than he can count, and the weight of it has followed him across the Atlantic.
Sir Aldous has been watching. He's not the only one waiting. Set in the heart of the English countryside, THE PENNWICK CURSE is a gripping contemporary ghost story about the fears we inherit, the courage we owe each other, and the bravery that costs the most-not the kind that makes the news, but the kind that finally sets you free. Perfect for fans of emotionally rich ghost stories, British settings, and coming-of-age fiction that actually means something.
When the Hartley family from Chicago signs a year's lease on Pennwick Hall-a centuries-old Wiltshire manor with six bedrooms, original oak paneling, and one ghost who refuses to leave-they expect culture shock. They don't expect Sir Aldous Pennwick. Dead since 1683, Sir Aldous has haunted his own ancestral home for three hundred and forty-two years, trapped by a curse his father laid with mortar and righteous contempt.
The only way out: a blood kinsman must perform a true act of bravery. Not a gesture. Not a performance. Something real, that costs them something. Sixteen-year-old Theo Hartley has a birthmark on the back of his neck he's never thought much about-and a pattern of freezing when it matters most. He stepped off the starting block. He went quiet when his friend needed him to speak. He's chosen silence over truth more times than he can count, and the weight of it has followed him across the Atlantic.
Sir Aldous has been watching. He's not the only one waiting. Set in the heart of the English countryside, THE PENNWICK CURSE is a gripping contemporary ghost story about the fears we inherit, the courage we owe each other, and the bravery that costs the most-not the kind that makes the news, but the kind that finally sets you free. Perfect for fans of emotionally rich ghost stories, British settings, and coming-of-age fiction that actually means something.