Bellman & Black: A Ghost Story by Diane Setterfield

This is quite a complicated story but it is rich and rewarding reading. Set sometime in the 19th Century, it starts off with a 10 year old William Bellman, who is playing with several of his friends. As boys of this age do, he impulsively aims his catapult at a rook and, to his and his friends' surprise, he kills it.

Time passes and the story follows William as he grows up to be rich, successful, and blessed with a loving family.  But the death of the rook is something that comes back to haunt him and changes the course of his life. Tragedy comes, a strange and desperate bargain is struck, and William takes to a peculiar new vocation. A great read to linger over on a dark and rainy day.

Reviewed by Young at Heart Bookgroup

Catalogue Link: Bellman & Black: A Ghost Story