The Orphan Choir by Sophie Hannah

Sophie Hannah's The Orphan Choir is the latest instalment from the excellent new Hammer imprint, which has already published Helen Dunmore's The Greatcoat,  Jeanette Winterson's The Daylight Gate and Julie Myerson's The Quickening (also reviewed on RichTapestryReads). I'm happy to report that, like its Hammer stablemates, it does a sterling job of spooking the reader.

I joined in an interesting conversation with Sophie Hannah on Twitter recently on the nature of fictional ghosts and the recent trend for ambiguity as to their veracity or otherwise. I have to say that I agree with Hannah that the most satisfying spook is an unambiguously real presence, rather than a figment of a disturbed narrator's consciousness. While The Little Stranger is an honourable exception,  as I've written before on this blog, I much prefer ghosts in the style of MR James and Susan Hill.

So it is with pleasure that I report that The Orphan Choir is a satisfyingly traditional chiller which nonetheless plays with the reader's perception of its narrator. Set in Cambridge, where Hannah lives, the story follows Louise, whose only son Joseph has been selected for a prestigious choral scholarship which requires him to board. Louise misses him more than her husband feels is normal; lonely and miserable at home, she spends her time daydreaming about his return and wishing he was with her.

Louise also has a bad relationship with her neighbour in Cambridge, an anti-social individual whose loud parties seem calculated to disturb her. She complains;  the relationship sours further; she involves the council. Then, to her horror, she begins to hear the sound of a children's choir in her house and is convinced that her neighbour is tormenting her further, needling her about her son's absence. Louise in her waking and sleeping hours is edgy, exhausted and irrational. This section of the book gradually increases the reader's unease, whilst also evoking powerfully the frustration and impotence Louise feels.

Desperate to escape,  Louise sets her heart on a rural second home in an idyllic development in order to spend more time with Joseph. But the music follows her there and gradually her equilibrium is destroyed. This section is the most explicitly frightening of the book; the supposedly perfect setting contrasts chillingly with Louise's mental strain. Always on edge, she can never enjoy anything  - and the music is becoming even more real to her...

The Orphan Choir is an enjoyably creepy read with the psychological depth that Sophie Hannah is known for. Reading it late at night, I had to put the book aside during one of the most frightening sequences for fear of being too spooked to sleep - and that's exactly what I want from a ghost story.

The Orphan Choir will be published on 9 may. I am very grateful to Sophie Hannah, who arranged for me to have a review copy of this novel.

The Orphan Choir is published on 9 may 2013

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