book cover

Shadowhall Academy: The Whispering Walls

by Phil Hickes

Interest age: 9 to 11
Reading age: 9+

Published by Usborne, 2024

  • Coming-of-age
  • Ghost story

About this book

Lilian has mixed feelings about starting at Shadowhall Academy. On the one hand she’s excited, having never been to boarding school before, but on the other, she’s nervous that she won’t make new friends.  

The school is old, chilly and absolutely huge with endless corridors and hidden nooks and crannies. So when her roommates tell her the place is haunted, she’s not sure if they’re just trying to scare the new girl or if the stories are true. 

But the tales of students who have vanished and strange sightings in the woods start to ring true when the girls hear odd noises in the night and it soon becomes obvious that they are in real danger. Can they solve the mystery of the whispering walls before the worst happens? 

A clever plot takes the atmosphere in this tense ghost story from intriguing to quite creepy then through spine-tingling to moments of complete terror.  

Set in the 1980s, before mobile phones and the internet were on hand to help, Lilian and her friends must rely on documents and witness testimony to get to the bottom of the secrets of Shadowhall Academy.  

A great read for fans of mysteries and ghostly goings-on. 

About the author

Born in the UK, Phil now lives with his wife in Portland, Oregon, where he works as an advertising copywriter. He has a passion for horror, ghosts, and all things that go bump in the night. His short stories have been published in adult horror anthologies, but Phil turned his hand to writing middle grade as he wanted to create the same visceral thrill he remembers from reading Alan Garner, Clive King and Roald Dahl. The Haunting of Aveline Jones is his first middle grade novel.

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