Out on 08 October 2026
Synopsis
'Gripping and thoroughly eerie' LUCIE MCKNIGHT HARDY
'Deliciously spinetingling' ANNA MAZZOLA
'The perfect ghostly web of claustrophobia and grief' ESSIE FOX
A SPINETINGLING SEASIDE FOLK HORROR NOVEL, SET AGAINST THE BLACKOUTS OF THE 1970s
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
'Deliciously spinetingling' ANNA MAZZOLA
'The perfect ghostly web of claustrophobia and grief' ESSIE FOX
A SPINETINGLING SEASIDE FOLK HORROR NOVEL, SET AGAINST THE BLACKOUTS OF THE 1970s
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
Details
08 October 2026
288 pages
9781786588029
Imprint: Manilla Press
Reviews
“Brilliant. A wickedly inventive, gripping and thoroughly eerie folk horror novel. ”Lucie McKnight Hardy, author of Night Babies and Water Shall Refuse Them, Lucie McKnight Hardy, author of Night Babies and Water Shall Refuse Them
“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, Alison Littlewood, author of The Hidden People
“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, Anna Mazzola, author of The Clockwork Girl
“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, Ally Wilkes, author of All the White Spaces
