Fireside Gothic

Fireside Gothic
Andrew Taylor

From the No.1 bestselling author of The American Boy and The Ashes of London comes a collection of three gothic novellas – Broken Voices, The Leper House and The Scratch – perfect for fans of The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley.

Three dark tales to read by the fireside in the cold winter months

BROKEN VOICES

It’s Christmas before the Great War and two lonely schoolboys have been left in the care of an elderly teacher. There is little to do but listen to his eerie tales about the nearby Cathedral. The boys concoct a plan to discover if the stories are true. But curiosity can prove fatal.

THE LEPER HOUSE

One stormy night, a man’s car breaks down. The only light comes from a remote cottage by the sea. The mysterious woman who lives there begs him to leave, yet the next day he feels compelled to return. But, the woman is nowhere to be seen. And neither is the cottage.

THE SCRATCH

Clare and Gerald live in the Forest of Dean with their cat, Cannop. Gerald’s young nephew, back from service in Afghanistan, comes to stay, with a scratch that won’t heal. Jack and Cannop don't like each other. Clare and Jack like each other too much. The scratch begins to fester.

ANDREW TAYLOR

Fireside Gothic

Copyright (#u61edd279-55c2-59b7-ba57-8948a44cfbf8)

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers

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London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2016

Copyright © Andrew Taylor 2016

Cover design by Dominic Forbes © HarperColl‌insPublishers Ltd 2017

Cover photographs © Alamy (http://www.alamy.com/): front cover Aurora Photos (https://www.auroraphotos.com/) (cat), Sergio Azenha (steps)

Andrew Taylor asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it, while at times based on historical fact, are the work of the author’s imagination.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books

Source ISBN: 9780008171230

Ebook Edition © NOVEMBER 2016 ISBN: 9780008179731

Version: 2017-09-01

Dedication (#u61edd279-55c2-59b7-ba57-8948a44cfbf8)

For AKR, without whom …

Table of Contents

Cover (#u7e1352a0-860b-5a85-814a-9a01990a850e)

Title Page (#u6c84bc76-cf17-51f0-95de-81e20da46ebe)

Copyright (#uf0b7b023-12ab-568e-a131-bd593f37ca88)

Dedication (#u3a33f943-880d-5f69-a9ee-f363aca50e0b)

Author’s Note (#u603f56c8-5662-549d-88e6-110acf8fc94a)

Broken Voices (#u5ee08c5d-97f5-541d-9b8b-1b98bdbc87e8)

Chapter 1 (#uff74a5bb-ac11-5323-89ad-bd7e8746fb07)

Chapter 2 (#ub5d5ca87-5d9b-5742-998b-6e7682268f45)

Chapter 3 (#ud04b08df-7c23-5bbe-9c00-9241abf7595a)

Chapter 4 (#ubf4836af-d8d3-538a-8ba8-7516ca5abe13)

Chapter 5 (#u40b3ff7d-c481-5b4e-96ec-828e5c889f91)

Chapter 6 (#uade4047e-b953-5e3f-9dc7-65cb17bb42a7)

Chapter 7 (#uca98bdac-67bd-519b-b1bb-222aea654ecf)

Chapter 8 (#ufed54ec7-e9ec-5571-b060-4b808b1b1a0d)

Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)