The Wayward Girls

With echoes of The Enfield Haunting, a sustained sense of unease permeates this evocative novel, which holds a very unsettling power indeed * Heat magazine *
A chilling debut * Daily Express *
Wonderfully creepy debut ... Cleverly plotted and keeping the reader on the edge of the seat until the end of with a supremely satisfying denouement * I newspaper *
Set on the Yorkshire moors, one of the blasted motherlands of gothic fiction, The Wayward Girls moves between 1976 and the present day to spool out the story of a haunting . . .The novel is very much in conversation with the stories, both real and fictional, that have come before it . . .What sets The Wayward Girls apart is its finesse. With a touch so light that it appears accidental at first, Mason arranges things in pairs. Two girls look alike; one character is called Loo, and another Lew; there are two sets of researchers, and two haunted houses - one occupied by a young family, the other a care home. Before long, these pairs start to feel like the flickering of two images pasted together on a film reel. Even the prose has a celluloid quality; the point of view switches mid-paragraph so suddenly that it can be hard to follow, as though the film on the projector has slipped. Brilliantly, all of that is a clue. An engrossing response to paranormal films and gothic fiction, The Wayward Girls is a nearly perfect ghost story * Guardian *
The Wayward Girls is a wonderful debut. Mason expertly weaves her own brand of gothic to explore the haunting secrets of two sisters. Gripping, compelling and beautifully accomplished. * Jess Kidd, author of Himself and Things In Jars *
Extraordinary. Terrifying but also extremely moving. Amanda Mason is the master of suspense * Deborah O'Connor *
Chilling, emotional, genuinely creepy with edgy, vibrant prose and unforgettable characters. Shiver down the spine reading * Liz Loves Books *
The chilling, atmospheric narrative peels away the obfuscations and murky half-truths that obscure what really happened that summer of 1976, keeping the reader in satisfactory suspense, right to the very end * Mature Times magazine *
Think I Capture The Castle meets The Blair Witch Project * RED magazine online *
An original plot with a number of terrifying moments ... some fascinating insights into sibling relationships * Daily Mail *
Grips you and doesn't let go ... its originality is matched only by its page-turning compulsiveness ... Spooky, atmospheric and chilling, this novel will literally have you on the edge of your seat ... captivating and unique * Julie L Hall *
A spine-chilling supernatural novel * Northern Life magazine *
A spooky, twisty tale for autumn evenings * Press Association *
Stunning . . . a gripping and unsettling thriller that harnesses the allure of a forbidding landscape with a spine-tingling ghost story. But The Wayward Girls proves to be much more than just a run-of-the-mill tale of ghostly goings-on... with its clever contemporary twist, its penetrating exploration of sibling and family relationships, and constantly shifting perspectives, this is a writer already ahead of the game. Brimming with emotional intensity, white-knuckle suspense, disturbing events, and an air of menace so sharp that it cuts through the pages like a knife, Mason's first novel delivers a deliciously dark and creepy atmosphere in Yorkshire-sized bucketloads . . . a powerful and accomplished first novel * Lancashire Evening Post *
Mason has created a spooky, twisty tale ideal for dark autumnal evenings * Woman's Way *
This book is going to be huge. Amanda Mason's coming of age tale is my favourite debut of the year so far and I'm recommending it to everyone * 17 Degrees magazine *
Brilliant . . . has all the makings of a spooky classic * My Weekly *
Eerie and atmospheric, Mason's latest read will unnerve as much as draw you in * Woman *
A chillingly claustrophobic read * Daily Mirror *
A chillingly claustrophobic read in which the secrets of the past seep into the present. Amanda Mason deftly describes the sisters' fractious relationship * Sunday Express *
A real page turner * Yorkshire Gazette and Herald *
The Wayward Girls is a wonderful debut. Mason expertly weaves her own brand of gothic to explore the haunting secrets of two sisters. Gripping, compelling and beautifully accomplished. * Jess Kidd, author of Himself and Things In Jars *