James is used to being left behind. No matter how many walks his parents take them on, they seem to forget he’s 2 years younger than his big brother Robbie, and that he often struggles to keep up.

At least he knows the path they’re on in the Yorkshire Dales. They were on the very same one last year. This time they’re back to scatter James’ grandmother’s ashes, and also for his father to explore some of the places their ancestors lived.

There are several ruins along the paths. There is a farm called Crackpot Hall, which sounds hilarious to James, but doesn’t mean anything like it sounds. Crackpot means something else entirely in the Norse language of Vikings from long ago.

James stops to look at Crackpot Hall again. It’s a tumble of broken walls and weeds, its roof gone long before. Unlike last time, he’s not alone. There is laughter among the ruins. Young laughter. He follows it to find a young girl of seven or eight. She’s barefoot and James remembers the tales of the wild children of the Dales. He also remembers stories his parents have told him about Mum’s ‘gift’. She has seen ghosts herself, and more besides. Maybe that’s why James sees the girl ghost?

Her calls to follow her are ignored, and James catches up with his family. But she’s persistent. She says she needs his help. Tired of being ignored and left behind, he decides he will see what she wants.

Her answer reveals the answers to so many troubling questions he’s had for a while. It also gives James just what he needs to reconnect with his family.

Empathy for James comes early, as he shares his hurt with the reader about feeling ‘left behind’. His parents are keen walkers, his brother older, and they stride ahead without him. But this gives James an opportunity to see a ghost, just like the stories his mum has always told him. Along with James, I was keen to know what she wanted, or needed his help with. The answer was a surprise to both me and James and all of a sudden everything else made sense.

James tells his story direct to the reader, skipping back and forth through his family stories and generations providing a great background to his tale. These stories of past ancestors also mirror the present. Entire communities lost livelihoods when technology changed or improved in the past, and it’s still happening over a hundred years later. James’ father is facing sudden unemployment along with hundred’s of others.

Perfect for Reluctant Readers, and anyone with Dyslexia, this is another Barrington Stoke story that will capture readers early.

A ghost story, a social commentary and a fracturing family becoming whole again.

Author – Marcus Sedgwick

Dyslexic Read

Reading Age – 8 / Interest Age – 11+

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(2023, Barrington Stoke, Dyslexic, Dyslexia, Reluctant Readers, Family, Made Redundant, Scattering Ashes, Caves, Ruins, Ghost, Truth, Writer, Last Holiday, Yorkshire, Big brother, Answers, Fractured Family, Change, Massive Job Losses, Mills, Mines, History, Workers)