After a terrible tragedy, governess Julia Pearlie finds herself with no job, home, or references. When she’s offered a position as companion to Miss Olivia Richmond, her luck appears to be turning. But Mistcoate House is full of secrets. Olivia has a sinister reputation. The locals call her the Mistcoate Witch, thanks to her tarot readings, and her insistence that she can speak to the dead. Her father, Dr Richmond, believes this to be girlish fantasy and is looking to Julia to put a stop to it. Determined to prove herself and shake off her own murky history, Julia sets to work trying to help Olivia become a proper young lady. However, as she becomes a fixture at Mistcoate, it is soon clear that there may be more to Olivia’s stories than Dr Richmond would have Julia believe – not least because somehow, Olivia seems to know something of the darkness that Julia desperately hoped she had left behind. As the danger grows, and the winter chill wraps around the dark woods surrounding Mistcoate, Julia will have to fight to uncover the truth, escape her past – and save herself. Original and engrossing, this chilling Victorian Gothic ghost story is an outstanding piece of storytelling, perfect for fans of Sarah Perry, Erin Morgenstern and Jessie Burton.

This is a revolutionary phonics system for teaching children to read. It will also be effective in teaching reading to illiterate or semi-literate adults. The author is a reading expert who home-schooled her own seven children. She used every available phonics system, and found them all wanting. She realised that 30% of children are left behind by traditional phonics systems. She found that children are quick to use number clues to identify the different sounds of each letter. By tagging the letters with a number, she prompts the student to recall the specific sound of this letter. And she applies this system to all the 84 major sounds in English. Who should use Number Phonics? Home-schoolers. Parents who want to give their children a jump start. Parents whose children are struggling. Classroom teachers and reading specialists.