Portal Cover Reveal | K.M. Walton | Our Street Books | 23 February 2027 |
- Author K.M. Walton
- Publisher Our Street Books
- Publishes 23 February 2027 (UK), 2 March 2027 (US)
- Pages 192
- Format Paperback, ebook
- ISBN 978-1-80695-048-5
- Subgenre YA ghost story
Sixteen-year-old Genevieve Freeman moves into an old stone house in Pennsylvania, where her little brother starts passing on messages from a ghost he calls the Bad Man.
Portal is the new young adult ghost story from K.M. Walton, and this is the Portal cover reveal. Walton made her name with Cracked, Empty and Ultimatum, three tough novels about what bullying does to kids. Now she turns to the dead. Sixteen-year-old Genevieve has been pulled away from the Florida coast to an old stone house in Chester County, Pennsylvania, and her little brother has started to pass on messages from a ghost he calls the Bad Man.
That puts Portal in a strong line of YA haunted house novels. Cherie Priest’s The Agony House moved a teen and her stepfamily into a ruin in New Orleans. Nic Sheff’s Harmony House took a girl and her father to the Jersey Shore. Kendare Blake’s Anna Dressed in Blood put the ghost at the heart of the story. Our YA and middle grade horror roundup shows how busy that shelf still is, and Tony’s YA haunted house picks for Halloween show how many ways there are to build one.
What interests me is where this premise puts the fear. The small child hears the voice. The teenager who believes in nothing has to decide whether to trust him. Walton also did her research in the records of the Chester County Historical Society, so this house has a real county behind it. Here is the story, and then the cover.
Portal joins a strong line of YA haunted house stories, from The Agony House to Harmony House, but it puts the fear in an unusual place: a small boy hears the dead, and his doubting older sister has to decide whether to believe him.
What Is Portal by K.M. Walton About?
Genevieve Freeman is sixteen, and she does not believe in ghosts. She did not want to leave the beach in Florida, either. But her stepdad was left a huge stone house on six acres in Pennsylvania, so the family moved north. The house is nearly 180 years old. It is big and dark, and half the boxes are still packed.
Then her little brother Charlie starts to talk about the Bad Man. He passes on words from a ghost no one else can see. The house starts to feel less like a home and more like a trap. Something old and angry is waking up, and it wants all of them.
Genevieve can’t face it alone. She needs Aidan, the boy she has fallen for, who loves all things ghostly. She needs Lilly, a tattooed teen ghost hunter. To keep Charlie safe, she will have to dig into the past of the house and learn why this ghost has come for them.
First Look at the Portal Cover
Cover by Glen Wilkins of Collective Ink
About K.M. Walton
K.M. Walton writes books for young adults, and she lives in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Her first novel, Cracked, came out in 2012. Empty followed in 2013 and Ultimatum in 2017. All three stand alone, and all three look hard at the harm that bullying does. She edited Behind the Song, a YA anthology built around music, and wrote for it too. She also had a story in Two and Twenty Dark Tales, a 2012 book of dark takes on Mother Goose rhymes. There are picture books as well, the Gus Goon series, and a guide for maths teachers called Teaching Numeracy, which she wrote with others.
Walton went to West Chester University and spent most of her teaching life teaching language arts to middle school kids. Now she gives talks in schools called The Power of Human Kindness. She taught herself to paint, too. Portal is her move into the paranormal, and it is set in the county she calls home.
About Our Street Books
Our Street Books is the list for children and teens at Collective Ink, a small press with bases in London and Washington, DC. Collective Ink began in 2001 as O Books. For years it was called John Hunt Publishing, and it took its new name in June 2023. Watkins Media has owned it since 2021. Our Street puts out books for kids of all ages: adventure, fantasy, history and folk tales. In North America, Simon & Schuster gets its books into shops.
Portal is out in paperback and ebook on 23 February 2027 in the UK, and on 2 March 2027 in the US. You can pre-order it now.
Get the book
Portal by K.M. Walton publishes on 23 February 2027 from Our Street Books, in paperback and ebook, and is available to pre-order now.
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About Ginger Nuts of Horror
Ginger Nuts of Horror is an independent horror review and culture site based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Edited by British Fantasy Award nominee Jim McLeod, it publishes horror book reviews, film reviews, author interviews, features and cover reveals. Ginger Nuts of Horror won Best Inclusive Film & Book Review Platform at the SME News UK Enterprise Awards 2026.
