Forthcoming in August 2025

News:

The Girls and the Ghosts of The Old Manse Revisited, the new novel by Ruth Skilbeck will be published in August 2025; details will be posted here, and the book will be available for sale from Borderstream Books on this website and in bookshops when it’s published.

The Girls and the Ghosts of The Old Manse Revisited by Ruth Skilbeck

When Roxanne and her family move into The Old Manse, a former 19th century manse in the countryside in Northern Ireland, a new chapter of exciting adventure and peril opens for the almost-thirteen year old budding writer. The Girls and the Ghosts of The Old Manse Revisited will take readers on a journey with Roxy, her family, her new friend Margy, and girls from earlier times; over three years from the conflict of the early 1970s Troubles; riding her horse in the country; on road trips across Europe and in Ireland; to past eras. What is most scary is not the ghost story Roxy and her family are told about the old manse but the mysterious impacts of the traumas of war and conflict, bereavement and accidents revealed by former inhabitants of the site. A historical coming-of-age novel with environmental, psychological, and supernatural themes.

A new standalone novel for publication release in August 2025. Publication formats: Hardback, paperback, ebook.

Series: Australian Fugue. Book 3. The novel is in the series but, like the others, is a standalone novel in its own right.