The Haunting of Hero's Bay Amanda Block 9781529360837

The sea doesn't forget. It knows all of this has happened before.
And will happen again...

Crescombe Beach, North Devon.

1840.

In a fishing town on the North Devon coast, as night draws in and the looming cliffs are lost to mist, a ship crashes into the rocks, sinking to a harrowing end. The town's most famous inhabitant - an artist on the cusp of greatness - throws himself into the water's murky depths, looking, desperately, for those caught beneath the waves. Looking, perhaps, for one woman in particular... only his legacy will survive the night.

Now.

Crescombe still brings in tourists by the boatload, desperate to discover its secrets and stories: tales of ghosts and secrets, of a smuggling family who ruled with an iron fist, and of the many young women who have fallen from the town's cliffs into that same murky water below. Always in the same way, always in the same place.

When Finley arrives in Crescombe for the summer, he's convinced he's not alone in the infamous attic bedroom where he's staying. Every night, a scratching noise, coming from behind the walls, keeps him awake. As though something - or someone - is trying to break free...

Although no one will believe him, Finley is determined to uncover the secrets Crescombe has kept hidden for over a century. But with every new secret he uncovers, he is one step closer to meeting the same watery ending as those before him...

Originally from Devon, Amanda moved to Edinburgh in 2007, where she attained a master's degree in creative writing. Since then, she's divided her time between ghostwriting, editing and tutoring.

Amanda's writing is often inspired by myths and fairy tales, which she uses as starting points to tell new stories. Her work has been shortlisted in contests such as the Bridport Prize and the Mslexia Short Story Competition. The Lost Storyteller is her first novel.