John Harding 2-Book Gothic Collection

John Harding 2-Book Gothic Collection
John Harding

A unique chance to read these two chilling Gothic tales from the brilliant storyteller John Harding together. Modern Gothic classic Florence & Giles and it’s sequel The Girl Who Couldn’t Read are a must for fans of Edgar Allen Poe.A pair of Gothic novels that will chill and delight.FLORENCE & GILESNew England, 1891Alone in a crumbling mansion, 12-year-old orphan Florence is neglected by her guardian uncle and banned from reading. By day she secretly devours books, creating a unique language of her own invention and by night, she sleepwalks the corridors plagued by a reoccurring nightmare.With the arrival of a new teacher, Miss Taylor, strange phenomena begin to occur. And Florence blames the new governess and fears for Giles’ safety. Without any adult to whom she can turn for help, Florence must use her ingenuity to both protect her little brother and preserve her private world.Inspired by and in the tradition of Henry James' s The Turn of the Screw, Florence & Giles is a gripping gothic page-turner told in a startlingly different and wonderfully captivating narrative voice.THE GIRL WHO COULDN’T READNew England, The 1890sWhen a young doctor begins work at an isolated mental asylum, he is expected to fall in with the shocking regime for treating the patients. He is soon intrigued by one patient, a strange amnesiac girl who is fascinated by books but cannot read. He embarks upon a desperate experiment to save her but when his own dark past begins to catch up with him, he realises it is she who is his only hope of escape.In this chilling literary thriller from a master storyteller, everyone has something to hide and no one is what they seem.

A GOTHIC COLLECTION

Florence & Giles

The Girl Who Couldn’t Read

John Harding

Copyright (#u7c046db5-f9a0-5019-bc64-c25e64641cd8)

The Borough Press

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

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

Copyright © John Harding 2015

Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers 2015

Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2015

John Harding asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of these works.

Catalogue copies of these books are available from the British Library.

These novels are entirely works of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in them are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

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.

Ebook Edition © October 2015 ISBN: 9780008162955

Version: 2015-09-07

Contents

Cover (#ubb2ff0cc-b340-5c63-ba33-a60246172f6c)

Title Page (#u2c6ff6bf-e04f-58a3-aa7a-de690dd7a803)

Copyright

Florence & Giles (#u92043de9-8319-589d-a390-390785d1abe0)

The Girl Who Couldn’t Read (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author

Also by John Harding

About the Publisher

JOHN HARDING

Florence & Giles

Copyright (#uf4f9c32f-1b04-58e9-9f0d-22c1fb7979ea)

The Borough Press

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London, SE1 9GF

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

First published by Blue Door in 2010

Copyright © John Harding 2010

Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2010

Cover photographs © Scott Dingman/Getty Images (girl looking through broken window); Shutterstock (stairwell).

John Harding asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

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.

Ebook Edition © February 2010 ISBN: 9780007315062

Version: 2015-09-07

Dedication (#uf4f9c32f-1b04-58e9-9f0d-22c1fb7979ea)

For Norah