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The Dark
- Author
- Amanda Mason
- Narrator
- Kristin Atherton
- Publisher
- Manilla Press
- Publish Date
- 8 October 2026
- Run Time
- 7 hours 15 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
- Genre
- Contemporary horror, ghost stories and supernatural fiction, Horror, ghost stories and supernatural fiction, Thriller / suspense fiction, Traditional or cultural fiction and true stories, tales and retellings, Sea stories, Narrative theme: death, grief, loss, Narrative theme: sense of place, Narrative theme: love / relationships
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What to expect
'Deliciously spinetingling' ANNA MAZZOLA
'The perfect ghostly web of claustrophobia and grief' ESSIE FOX
A SPINETINGLING SEASIDE FOLK HORROR NOVEL, SET ON THE YORKSHIRE COAST AGAINST THE 1970s BLACKOUTS
When the lights go out
You can lose sight of what is real . . .
It is the 1970s. A young woman, Rosie, moves to a small remote seaside village, readying to welcome her first child. But with her partner working away on an oil rig, the house isn't the sanctuary she'd hoped for - the situation made worse by the regular blackouts due to the ongoing miners' strikes. And the villagers seem friendly enough, but some of them are taking an uncomfortably close interest in her pregnancy.
Before long, Rosie notices strange noises and unexplained shadows in the corners of the cottage. As her birth date moves closer and the blackouts intensify, her isolation begins to consume her until she feels that she is losing her grip on reality.
But Rosie isn't the only one in the village who has cause to fear the dark . . .
'No one writes the supernatural quite like Amanda Mason. In The Dark the hauntings are visceral, underpinned by folklore, an evocative setting and a beautifully observed cast of characters' JESS KIDD, author of Little Spark and Things in Jars
'Hugely atmospheric - I absolutely loved it' ALISON LITTLEWOOD, author of The Hidden People
'I couldn't put it down' ALLY WILKES author of All the White Space
Critics Review
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No one writes the supernatural quite like Amanda Mason. In The Dark the hauntings are visceral, underpinned by folklore, an evocative setting and a beautifully observed cast of characters. The 1970s power cuts accompanying the miners' strikes, which plunge this wintry village into prolonged darkness, offer the perfect vehicle for a story about toxic histories and maternal hope, outsiders and community. I loved it. The Dark is a book that resonates and had me leaving a light on . . .
Jess Kidd, author of Murder at Gull's Nest
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Brilliant. A wickedly inventive, gripping and thoroughly eerie folk horror novel.
Lucie McKnight Hardy, author of Night Babies and Water Shall Refuse Them
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Creepy, hugely atmospheric . . . A haunting folk horror meets supernatural tale that slowly creeps under your skin
Liz Hyder, award-winning author of The Gifts
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Imbued with ancient folklore and the darkness of the present, Amanda Mason has woven the perfect ghostly web of claustrophobia and grief
Essie Fox, author of The Fascination
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Places the reader squarely in a different place and time, one haunted by an old folk tale that still possesses the power to drag people along with the tide. The Dark is hugely atmospheric - I absolutely loved it
Alison Littlewood, author of The Hidden People
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A deliciously spinetingling supernatural seaside tale. A brilliantly eerie novel that plunges us into the darkness of the 1970s blackouts and keeps us reading by torchlight 'til dawn
Anna Mazzola, author of The Clockwork Girl
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The Dark proves Amanda Mason's exceptional ability to wring every last bit of creepiness from her claustrophobic, gloomy, homely-made-unhomely folk horror settings. And it's the people - every bit as much as the places - that are wracked and haunted here. I couldn't put it down.
Ally Wilkes, author of All the White Spaces
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Amanda Mason
- Narrator
- Kristin Atherton
- Duration
- 7 hours 15 minutes
- Release Date
- 8 October 2026
- ISBN
- 9781786588005
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Manilla Press
- Genre
- Contemporary horror, ghost stories and supernatural fiction, Horror, ghost stories and supernatural fiction, Thriller / suspense fiction, Traditional or cultural fiction and true stories, tales and retellings, Sea stories, Narrative theme: death, grief, loss, Narrative theme: sense of place, Narrative theme: love / relationships
Synopsis
'Gripping and thoroughly eerie' LUCIE MCKNIGHT HARDY'Deliciously spinetingling' ANNA MAZZOLA'The perfect ghostly web of claustrophobia and grief' ESSIE FOXA SPINETINGLING SEASIDE FOLK HORROR NOVEL, SET ON THE YORKSHIRE COAST AGAINST THE 1970s BLACKOUTS When the lights go outYou can lose sight of what is real . . .It is the 1970s. A young woman, Rosie, moves to a small remote seaside village, readying to welcome her first child. But with her partner working away on an oil rig, the house isn't the sanctuary she'd hoped for - the situation made worse by the regular blackouts due to the ongoing miners' strikes. And the villagers seem friendly enough, but some of them are taking an uncomfortably close interest in her pregnancy.Before long, Rosie notices strange noises and unexplained shadows in the corners of the cottage. As her birth date moves closer and the blackouts intensify, her isolation begins to consume her until she feels that she is losing her grip on reality.But Rosie isn't the only one in the village who has cause to fear the dark . . . 'No one writes the supernatural quite like Amanda Mason. In The Dark the hauntings are visceral, underpinned by folklore, an evocative setting and a beautifully observed cast of characters' JESS KIDD, author of Little Spark and Things in Jars'Hugely atmospheric - I absolutely loved it' ALISON LITTLEWOOD, author of The Hidden People'I couldn't put it down' ALLY WILKES author of All the White Space
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