By Jim Mcleod 
Heather Davey has crafted a confident, thoughtful, and deeply atmospheric debut that marks her as a significant new voice in gothic fiction. The Ghosts of Merry Hall is a testament to the power of place and memory, a story that passionately and hauntingly argues that the past is never really past until its ghosts have been heard. It’s a dark, gleaming gem of a novel.
Grave Whispers and Creaking Floorboards: A Review of Heather Davey’s “The Ghosts of Merry Hall”
It starts, as these things often do, with a bad decision. Or more accurately, a desperate one. Nell’s move into the crumbling Merry Hall with her teenage daughter Fern isn’t so much a choice as a surrender to financial despair, and from the moment they cross the threshold, the house begins to breathe. You know the feeling—that subtle shift in air pressure when you realize the silence isn’t empty. It’s watching. Heather Davey’s debut novel, The Ghosts of Merry Hall, wears its gothic influences proudly, like heirlooms in a dusty attic, yet somehow stitches together something that feels both comfortingly familiar and unsettlingly new .
The real trick Davey pulls is making the house itself the main character. Merry Hall isn’t just a setting; it’s a respiratory system of creaking floorboards and whispering winds, a living, breathing entity that guards its tragedies with possessive fervor. One reviewer nailed it when they said the house is as much a character as the people, its sprawling, gloomy presence dictating the emotional weather for everyone trapped within its walls . This is a building that doesn’t just have history—it is history, with all the grief and injustice baked into its very foundations.
And oh, the injustices. The novel’s engine is its dual timeline, and Davey manages the switch between 1840s Victorian England and the present day with a deft hand. In the past, we meet Dolly Dove, a talented albino girl seduced and exploited by the showman Abel Wenham. He makes her the star of his traveling ‘freak show,’ then discards her when she becomes pregnant, imprisoning her within Merry Hall’s oppressive confines . Her only solace comes from the other performers—Ida the Bear Lady and Jack the Posturer—a found family of outcasts that provides the story’s fragile, trembling heart .
Here’s the thing about Dolly: she’s not a passive victim. Davey gives her a voice that’s by turns tender and fiercely determined. She came to the author “fully formed,” and it shows . Her chapters feel urgent, authentic, a desperate plea from beyond the grave that demands to be witnessed. The modern timeline, meanwhile, mirrors Dolly’s struggles with a painful, poignant symmetry. Nell is fleeing the controlling architecture of her marriage, while her daughter Fern is navigating her own teenage rebellion, which takes a dramatic turn when she, too, reveals a pregnancy . The house, sensing the patterns of vulnerable women, begins to stir.
The Verdict from the Readers: A Chorus of Praise and Minor Quibbles
Scrolling through Goodreads and NetGalley reviews is like listening to a book club debate—the consensus is largely positive, but with fascinating, human nuances. The book holds a solid rating on Goodreads, with many readers finding it “unputdownable” and “the perfect ghost story for reading in a snow bound cabin” . The atmosphere is the undisputed star, with multiple readers praising its “creepy, atmospheric” quality that makes for a “delicious treat” of a fall read .
But let’s be real, no book is for everyone. Some readers felt the novel, while well-written, could “drag” at times due to its “LOT of chapters” . One of the most common criticisms is that it might not be “a particularly scary story” for seasoned horror fans, offering more of a “vibe of an old fashioned ghost story” than pants-wetting terror . Another reviewer pointed out a certain predictability in the chapter structure, noting they could often see the narrative beats coming . This isn’t a deal-breaker—it’s more that the book prioritizes emotional resonance and a slow, creeping dread over jump scares and plot twists.
The Ghost in the Machine: How Structure Informs the Haunting
Davey, in a brilliant author interview, revealed she’s a meticulous planner. She constructed the two narratives to “rise and fall at roughly the same points in the book,” tapping into the parallel emotional states of her characters to create a powerful, echoing effect . This isn’t just a writing technique; it’s the very thesis of the novel. The grief and betrayal felt by Dolly in the 1840s vibrate at the same frequency as Nell’s modern-day desperation, and the house amplifies them both.
This architectural approach to storytelling pays off spectacularly in the third act. As the timelines collide, the haunting escalates from eerie phenomena—”rotting vegetables and strange smells”—to something far more purposeful and chilling . The question is no longer if the house is haunted, but why, and what these two women from different centuries must do to free themselves and each other. It’s here that Davey’s themes of silenced voices and historical injustice snap into sharp, satisfying focus.
A Debut with Something to Say: More Than Just Spooks
What elevates The Ghosts of Merry Hall from a simple ghost story to a truly compelling read is its conscience. Davey was inspired by a real tombstone in a Dorset churchyard for “Elizabeth Edwards, a Travelling Dwarf… who was unfortunately seduced and died in childbirth, aged nineteen, 1820” . That “unfortunately seduced” just kills me. The passive voice, the erasure of a full human life into a tragic footnote. Davey’s novel is an act of literary resurrection, giving a voice to the Elizabeths and Dollys whose stories were written out of history by the “victors” .
This is gothic horror with a feminist pulse. It’s about the control men like Abel Wenham—and Nell’s ex-husband—wield over women’s bodies and lives, and the fierce, sometimes supernatural, resistance that such control provokes. As one reviewer noted, the story is a “stark and harrowing example of an 1800s ‘me too’ case,” proving that these patterns of exploitation are terrifyingly timeless .
Final Impressions: Who Should Brave the Halls of Merry Hall?
So, where does that leave us? Look, if you’re after a gore-fest or a plot crammed with shocking twists, you might find the pacing here a bit too deliberate. But if you’re the kind of reader who lives for atmosphere, for the slow chill that creeps up your spine rather than the sudden jump-scare, then this is your book. It’s perfect for a dark, windy night, preferably with a blanket and a strong cup of tea nearby.
Heather Davey has crafted a confident, thoughtful, and deeply atmospheric debut that marks her as a significant new voice in gothic fiction. The Ghosts of Merry Hall is a testament to the power of place and memory, a story that passionately and hauntingly argues that the past is never really past until its ghosts have been heard. It’s a dark, gleaming gem of a novel.
The Ghosts of Merry Hall by Heather Davey
In modern-day England, a mother and daughter move into a crumbling Victorian house through which wind whistles eerily, floorboards creak ominously and things go bump in the night.
The ghost of a girl who performed in Victorian freak shows haunts this chilling gothic ghost story, reminiscent of Laura Purcell’s The Silent Companions and Alice Hoffman’s The Museum of Extraordinary Things.
In 2025, following the break-up of her marriage, cash-strapped single mother Nell moves into the crumbling Merry Hall with her teenage daughter, Fern, to housesit for its evasive owner. She’s determined to make a new life in the gloomy Victorian mansion but the noises, moving objects and strange smells in her new home make her increasingly unsettled.
In the 1840s, showman Abel Wenham seduces Dolly, a talented albino girl and makes her the star of his performing collection of freaks. But after she becomes pregnant with his child, he discards her and imprisons her at Merry Hall, where her only solace is the company of fellow performers Ida the Bear Lady and the Jack the Posturer. They plan to escape with Dolly and her child and set up in business, but Wenham has other ideas.
Is Dolly, just one of the ghosts that haunt Merry Hall, reaching out across the centuries to right the wrongs of the past?
‘Dark, unsettling and beautifully written, this gothic chiller is full of surprises. Terrifying but impossible to put down – I loved it!’
Carly Reagon, author of The Toll House and Hear Him Calling
‘A darkly gleaming gem of a novel about the persistence of memory and the dangers lurking in the shadows of an old and brooding house.’
A. J. Elwood, author of The Other Lives of Miss Emily White and The Cottingley Cuckoo
‘A mesmerising and original gothic tale that I struggled to put down. Beautifully written, dark and delicious. I literally dropped everything to read it in two days!’
Jody Cooksley, author of The Small Museum
‘The Ghosts of Merry Hall is a gothic treasure chest full of seedy secrets and eerie charm. I loved Dolly Dove from the start.’
Verity M. Holloway, author of The Others of Edenwell
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