Available Formats
The Haunting of Hero's Bay
By (Author) Amanda Block
Hodder & Stoughton
Hodder & Stoughton
30th September 2025
United Kingdom
General
Fiction
Ghosts and poltergeists
Paperback
400
Width 153mm, Height 234mm
The sea doesn't forget. It knows all of this has happened before.
And will happen again... Crescombe, North Devon 1840 As darkness creeps over the coast, a vast ship loses its way in the mist and is dashed against the cliffs of Crescombe. In the town, Lord Delmore - a daring young artist on the cusp of greatness - dives into the murky water to search for survivors, desperate to save one in particular... Only his legacy will last the night. Now Today, tourists are drawn to Crescombe by the story of Delmore's untimely demise, and the mystery surrounding his final, brilliant painting, Hero's Bay. Most are unaware of the town's other tales: of ghosts and curses; of a ruthless old smuggling family; and especially of the young women whose bodies have washed up along its rocky shoreline, decades apart but always in the same place. When bookish Finley arrives in Crescombe for the summer, he tries to convince himself he's only imagining the feeling he isn't alone in his attic room; that there must be some other explanation for the heavy window blowing open, or the scratching noises coming from behind the walls, as though something - or someone - is trying to break free. Soon, though, Finley is uncovering secrets Crescombe has kept for almost two centuries. Yet the more he learns about the remote seaside town, the further he's bonded to those who have gone before him - and the closer he comes to meeting the same watery end...Originally from Devon, Amanda moved to Edinburgh in 2007, where she attained a master's degree in creative writing. Since then, she's divided her time between ghostwriting, editing and tutoring.
Amanda's writing is often inspired by myths and fairy tales, which she uses as starting points to tell new stories. Her work has been shortlisted in contests such as the Bridport Prize and the Mslexia Short Story Competition. The Lost Storyteller is her first novel.