Patricia M Osborne

Please join me in congratulating my very dear friend, Suzi Bamblett, on today’s publication of her latest novel Prescient Spirit. Read what inspired Suzi to write this new book and find out how to order your copy.

Prescient Spirit

Suzi Bamblett

I’ve always loved a spooky story set in an old, gothic house – Rebecca, The Woman in White, Northanger Abbey, The Turn of the Screw.  When I was a child, I lived for a few years in a haunted farmhouse. Perhaps this is why I relate so much to these fantastic classics.

The setting for Prescient Spirit was inspired by yoga lessons I attended in an old gothic house near Cross in Hand, Holy Cross Priory. The house was steeped in atmosphere and history, and I was fascinated by its many chimneys, towers and gargoyles. I couldn’t wait to set one of my own novels in a house like that.

As I prepared to take part in National Novel Writing month in November 2015, a story began to take shape in my mind. There would be a ghost of a little girl, dressed in yellow with starfish hands and a tiny red heart-shaped birthmark.

I wrote 30k words during November that year. Here’s a short extract:

As I rounded the column, I glimpsed a tiny, star-like hand. Swiftly it shot back out of sight. There was no one there. But I’d spotted it – a red, heart-shaped birth mark on the back of the hand.

I was mid-way through my MA in Creative Writing at the University of Brighton, so I put the unfinished manuscript aside for a few months.

And then something spooky happened…

On 7^th May 2016 my grand-daughter Eloise was born. On her cheek was a red, heart-shaped birthmark. It felt as if, like Silvertongue in Inkheart, I had written her into being…

I finished my MA and returned to earlier ‘works in progress’ – The Travelling Philanthropist and Three Faced Doll. Meanwhile, my contemporary gothic novel, Prescient Spirit waited in the wings. Finally, I have completed it. It is, of course, dedicated to my grandchildren.

ORDER YOUR COPY NOW

About Suzi Bamblett

Suzi Bamblett lives in Crowborough, East Sussex. In 2019 she graduated with a distinction for her MA in Creative Writing (University of Brighton)

Suzi writes psychological thrillers, mystery and suspense. Her work has been published in literary magazines and academic collections including Shooter Literary Magazine (2020) and Storying the Self – Performance and Communities (2022).

Her Imagined Dialogue with Daphne (du Maurier) can be found on the Daphne du Maurier website, and her memoir piece – A Grandmother’s Grief was long-listed for the Amy Award in 2021.

Prescient Spirit is Suzi’s third novel.

Links

Facebook

Twitter

Website

BUY

BUY

BUY