Ad/PR. Many thanks to Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op and NetGalley for this ARC. The Ghost of Hightower Pond releases today, Oct 13, 2026.
Prepare for a tale of terror. The ghost of Hightower Pond.
It is eighteen hundred and something, and the plague is ravaging London. While the poor are left to the mercy of the disease, the rich abandon the city and seek healthier airs in the countryside. Cordelia Delacroix is a young widow with dwindling capital. She is one of seven people who have been invited to stay at Hightower Castle to escape the plague. There, the group pass the time telling ghost stories and flirting and pining for unrequited love. But who is their host? And why have these particular seven people been invited? And what, really, is the true story of the ghost of Hightower Pond?
The Ghost of Hightower Pond is a horror novella. The seven guests have rather modern inclinations when it comes to romance, but the setting is decidedly old-fashioned with a Victorian-era feel. Hightower Castle, which at first seems like a welcome escape, soon turns into a gothic prison as the guests are preyed on by supernatural horrors and their own guilty pasts and fears are awakened.
The main focus of the novella is the growing tension as the mood among the party guests changes, and it becomes obvious that we are going from frivolous entertainment to desperate survival. Some immediately pick up on the gothic vibes, while others attempt to cling to normality despite the increasingly growing evidence of supernatural interference. The ending caught me by surprise, and I enjoyed the dramatic reveal of the actual true story of the ghost of Hightower Pond.
Horror novella
Leave a Reply