Ghost Wall: A Novel

The Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss is a short, but powerful book. North of England, teenage Silvie, and her parents have joined an experimental archeology class. They will spend two weeks living like ancient people—Silvie’s father’s dream. He’s obsessed with the Iron Age. OBSESSED. Silvie doesn’t share her father’s passion, nor, it seems, do many of the college students who are attending the experimental class. Silvie chaffs under her father’s control, even as she finds herself defending him and getting caught up in her dad and the professor’s most extreme experiment.

Moss captures the complicated feelings of being fifteen through the character, Silvie.

Love, and loyalty are explored in this book. The need to subjugate women is also examined in this haunting book that grabs hold of the reader and won’t let go.

With all the elements of a coming-of-age novel, a thriller, and a love story, a lot is happening in these scant pages. Silvie emerges from her ordeal much like the bog people—transformed. The reader will rise along with Silvie, gaining an understanding of her struggles and the overall experience of a compelling story.