Review: Ghosts of Chanterlands by Catherine Cavendish

Ghosts of Chanterlands

by Catherine Cavendish

Release Date: August 18, 2026

2026 Flame Tree Press

Ebook ARC; 272 Pages

ISBN: 978-17875899919

ASIN:  ‎ B0G59JC3V4

Genre: Fiction / Horror / Historical

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

4 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

"You don’t belong here. None of you do. None but us….”

1940. Pamela Courtney is evacuated to Chanterlands – the home of her Aunt Jilly, the eccentric one, who dreams of her days as a star of the silver screen, and Bunny, the pragmatic one.

But Chanterlands is home to more than just the living. There’s the spectral lonely boy whose room Pamela sleeps in and, in the long-neglected attic, she discovers a sinister secret of this once-great house. But greater danger awaits Pamela during that summer long ago when war raged all over Europe and the safety her mother had wished for her took a dark and fatal turn.

 

 

 

My Thoughts

Ghosts of Chanterlands contains a lot of what I like in a horror novel: creepy, old house; loads of atmosphere; secrets galore; ghostly happenings; and lot so things that go bump in the night. The book begins in such a creepy way when Pamela finds out she is to be staying in bedroom of the brother who died in mysterious circumstances years ago, a brother who everyone seemed to love, but about whom Pamela received conflicting information. The atmosphere of the book pretty much grabs you right from the beginning and doesn't really let go until the end. 

 

Pamela is somewhat of an unreliable narrator as she doesn't really know her aunts very well, she is not familiar with the house nor the history of the house, and she is fourteen years old with all the insight of that age and the time period. A bit naive, it is hard to really trust her events of the story, something that I liked.  I didn't take me long to realize this and I started to question everything she learned about her aunts and the twists and turns that author threw into the story. Personally, I liked Pamela's character development as she grew from trusting everything she saw and heard to someone who questioned everything and learned to trust her own instincts. 

 

Aunt Jilly and Bunny were quirky characters, and they were pretty isolated in their house. Because we learn about them through Pamela's eyes, it was hard to trust her narrative and some of the narrative was contradictory, something I would expect from a fourteen year old.  I found this aspect of the story quite interesting and I liked learning more about the sisters and their lives. While Pamela tended to trust Bunny more because she was more personable, I learned not to take anything at face value because Pamela was so trusting and a bit naive, especially in the beginning. It is hard to mention more about them as doing so would actually give away some major plot points and I don't want to give anything away.

 

I think fans of classic Gothic fiction and haunted house stories would really enjoy the atmosphere in this book. There are a lot of secrets in this house as well as paranormal activity, and the parts I really enjoyed were when Pamela volunteered to clean the attic. I mean, a classic attic, where all sorts of secrets were kept. I loved the scenes when Pamela was up there. One of my childhood wishes was to have a haunted attic like in the books I read, so I always gravitate towards these books.  This books has plenty of twists and turns, and is just drenched in ghostly atmosphere. However, if you are looking for something with a lot of action, you won't find it in this book as this more old school, where the dread and the tension are used to build the story, and is kept up throughout the book. 

 

Verdict

Ghosts of Chanterlands is one of those Gothic books that is atmospheric and you just soak up the tension and the dread. The characters are interesting, with their own personal quirks, but the author was clever and just when you thought one thing, it gets dumped on your head and it becomes something else, due to clever narration of an unreliable narrator who sees things through the viewpoint of a naive, inexperienced fourteen-year-old eyes. This book reminds me of those older 1950s Gothic novels I devoured when I was younger and I just soaked up the atmosphere.  I don't think I found this spooky so much as unsettling, but I certainly enjoyed it.  And if you're looking for a couple of novellas to maybe finish a reading challenge, I also highly recommend Miss Abigail's Room and The Demons of Cambian Street by this author.