Jax’ House
Title Details
- ISBN: 9781783085699
- April 2016
- Pages: 260
- Imprint: Union Bridge Books
Do old houses hold secrets? Can those secrets affect the lives of people who live there now? Jack O’Hagen has moved to a house in Cornwall that certainly has a secret – a secret it is determined to share. Two hundred years ago, a young Martha Jax enters into service in this house. Because she has a superb singing voice, she becomes embroiled in her employer’s smuggling activities. She is made to dress as a ghost and walk the smuggler’s route with her singing to scare away anyone who is not involved. She hates what she is being made to do and, in desperation, she searches for her brother, a young dragoon who works for the king’s excise men. Together they expose the smugglers, but disastrous consequences emerge for Martha and her brother. The locals, dependent on free trading for their income, mete out a savage revenge.
When Jack steps over the threshold of the house for the first time, he is swamped by the overwhelming force of déjà vu. He is convinced he’s been here before, and he knows the building’s layout with unnerving clarity. When doors lock, Jack’s only means of access is a rusted key found in the cellar. Using this key thrusts him back to the world of Martha Jax where he relives her story. Each time he returns to the present, however, only vague impressions of the past remain with him.
It is only when Jack finds out something more about Martha Jax that he attains a final peace for the house.
John Kitchen retired from teaching in 2001 and has been writing books for young adults ever since.
‘I enjoyed “Jax’ House” very much indeed… I could really see the little town with its harbour… John has a terrific imagination and I found the book not only spooky but really scary in the later part. He writes from inside his main characters and brings alive the eighteenth century. It brought to mind Jamaica Inn and that poem by Kipling about smugglers. In all a first class read’. –Ann Granger
‘Brilliant! A really unusual, fast moving plot and memorable characters. Fabulously spooky – I read it in a single sitting. Only wish I’d been 11 years old and reading it with a torch under the bedclothes…’ –Rosie Orr; author
‘Highly recommended: “Jax’ House” is an excellent read – gripping from beginning to end. Set in Cornwall, Jax’ House is a fast-paced, very well structured adventure story that moves between the modern day and a time in the past when smuggling along the craggy coastline of Cornwall was prevalent… The author brings alive every scene, and every character, with his acute eye for detail, and with graphic writing of the highest quality. This is a beautifully written novel’. – Liz Harris; author
‘Cornwall, with its dizzying cliffs, rocky shores and smugglers’ coves, is the setting for this powerful and intense time-slip novel that explores a teenage boy’s journey towards maturity. Jack has (reluctantly) moved to Cornwall with his parents and finds himself uncannily familiar with his new surroundings. He begins to have something resembling flashbacks to an earlier time and to events involving a young servant, Martha Jax, who is being used as a decoy for smugglers by her unscrupulous employer. The book is full of vivid scenes and high drama but its most compelling aspect is Jack’s growing affinity with Martha as the story develops and his inner transformation as he realises that there is a deep emotional side to his nature. There are passages of stunning writing in “Jax’ House”. It’s a wonderful combination of a gripping story and a study of a great personal change.’ –Anne Lake
Related products
-
Aging with a Plan
How a Little Thought Today Can Vastly Improve Your Tomorrow, Second Edition
January, 2022
£30.00 / $30.00 -
-
-
-
-
