Honour Among Ghosts by Sean Williams

Title: Honour Among Ghosts

Author: Sean Williams

Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Published: 30^th August 2022

Format: Paperback

Pages: 336

Price: $16.99

Synopsis: A suspenseful middle-grade fantasy full of mystery, twists and skulduggery from the author of the critically acclaimed Her Perilous Mansion.

When Athelbert Fan is thrown in jail for thievery, his daughter, Penny, is convinced he has been framed. Someone else must have stolen the gold cup from the crabby magistrate’s home and put it in with her father’s tools. But whom could it be? Setting out to prove his innocence, Penny forms an unlikely foursome with the magistrate’s son, a young traveller and a magical scribe’s apprentice. Soon they discover even more crimes – and it’s always the rich being burgled, and the poor being blamed. Before long, the whole town is in uproar, until a mysterious inspector arrives … but can he be trusted? It’s up to the young quartet to untangle the truth and put things right.

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When Penny’s father, Athelbert Fan, is accused of theft with little evidence other than the item in his workshop, Penny is convinced that he is innocent. She’s sure he would never have stolen the golden cup from Magistrate Nightwick – but the question is, who would want to frame her father? To find out, Penny teams up with Colm, the son of Magistrate Nightwick, Niclas, a traveller boy, and Mab, apprentice to a magical scribe. Together, they find out about a multitude of burglaries throughout Lower Rudmere and are convinced that something odd or suspicious is going on as the poor keep getting the blame. Just as the uproar starts to take over the town, a mysterious inspector arrives. Can he be trusted, or is there something about him that doesn’t quite add up? Only Penny, Mab, Colm, and Niclas can find out and set things right!

The latest Sean Williams book is a light-hearted ghost and magical realism story, set in what I think was Ireland during the Victorian era. It allows women agency as well, which I loved, and each character was diverse and different enough that their distinct personalities shone through. Within this story, we saw the full spectrum of what people could be like and how a small community can be divided but then come together. The novel opens with a bang – with Athelbert’s trial, so we know there is something unusual afoot – the first person blamed is never the thief, and in this case, is it possible that nobody who has been imprisoned is the thief? As the story unfolds, more is revealed about magic and ghosts, and what could possibly be happening – but it is the why that kept me reading as well, because the why it was happening, combined with the how and the who made the novel exciting and fun.

Like any good mystery novel, Honour Among Ghosts has it all: wrongly accused, red herrings, misfiring spells, and a plucky quartet of detectives willing to do anything to solve the crime and see innocent people go free. The compelling and exciting story takes place over a matter of days to weeks as Penny and her friends do all they can to uncover the truth – but they can’t get caught – things could go horribly wrong if they do and those who have been wrongly accused will never be set free! I was thoroughly engaged with the plot and characters, because I loved that Sean had made them diverse and interesting in so many ways that befitted his story and drew from history within an Irish setting to create Lower Rudmere. And as they try to solve the mystery of Sofia Phronesis, Penny and her friends find out there is more to the story than meets the eye – which ensures a thrilling quest that readers of all ages from eight or nine and over will love about this book. It’s the kind of adventure story I would have loved to read as a kid and loved it just as much as an adult reader – it will have wide appeal because I think there will be something about it that many readers will enjoy and connect with – and that is all down to what the reader gets out of the book.

Sean’s research into various small towns around the UK, and traditions that abound ensured that the background of his story had a sense of reality about the setting and characters, but as he notes in his author’s note, some of the choices he made were made to ensure the book and its characters didn’t speak for certain things but were just what he imagined them to be. It gave a richness to the novel that made it immersive and hopeful that things would look up for the characters, and that they would find their feet in a world that sought to keep them divided. It is a wonderful novel that I hope people will enjoy, and I think has a sneaky link to Her Perilous Mansion – it would be fun to read them both again to see if I am right!