The Ghost Woods, C. J. Cooke
The Ghost Woods, C. J. Cooke
List: $23.00 | Sale: $16.10
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The Ghost Woods

Author: C. J. Cooke

Narrator: Paula Masterton

Unabridged: 11 hr 28 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 04/29/2025

Synopsis

A young woman sent to stay in a crumbling gothic manor will find haunting secrets creeping out of the surrounding dark woods in this new, chilling novel from the acclaimed author of The Lighthouse Witches.

In the midst of the woods stands a house called Lichen Hall. This place is shrouded in folklore—old stories of ghosts, of witches, of a child who is not quite a child.

Now the woods are creeping closer, and something has been unleashed.

Pearl Gorham arrives in 1965, one of a string of young women sent to Lichen Hall to give birth. And she soon suspects the proprietors are hiding something. Then she meets the mysterious mother and young boy who live on the grounds—and together they begin to unpack the secrets of this place. As the truth comes to the surface and the darkness moves in, Pearl must rethink everything she knew—and risk what she holds most dear.

About The Author

C. J. Cooke is an award-winning poet and novelist published in twenty-three languages. She teaches creative writing at the University of Glasgow, where she also researches the impact of motherhood on women's writing and creative writing interventions for mental health.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Ceecee on July 23, 2022

Then: Dundee, May 1959, Mabel Haggith aged 17 visits the doctor with her mother, they say she’s pregnant but she doesn’t understand as she’s done nothing wrong. It must be the ghosts inside her as they make her do some strange things. Now: Pearl Gorham, September 1965, aged 22 and a nurse. She’s hea......more

Goodreads review by Srivalli on October 28, 2022

3.7 Stars One Liner: Atmospheric In the middle of Ghost Woods in Scotland is Lichen Hall, a huge house with mysterious members, rooms, and incidents. It is a place where unwed girls go to give birth and hand over the child to adoptive parents. It is supposedly a better place than the ‘institutions’......more

Goodreads review by Nilufer on October 08, 2024

C.J. Cooke’s "The Ghost Woods" is a masterful exploration of gothic horror, blending eerie folklore, the supernatural, and the harrowing real-life experiences of unwed mothers in the 1950s and 60s. Set against the haunting backdrop of Lichen Hall—a crumbling, isolated manor steeped in legend and sha......more

Goodreads review by JaymeO on April 29, 2025

HAPPY PUBLICATION DAY! Why are there so many…books about fungi? 🎵🍄‍🟫🍄 Fungus seems to be a hot topic for gothic thrillers these days…from T. Kingfisher’s What Moves the Dead to M.L. Rio’s Graveyard Shift to C.J. Cooke’s The Ghost Woods. All of these books explore the unique topic of mycology. The Ghos......more

Goodreads review by Pat on October 13, 2022

Okay, I’ll admit it, I was officially creeped out by this book. It is set in the late 1950s - mid 1960s in Scotland where being an unwed mother and her unfortunate illegitimate child was still very much a stigma. We’ve all heard of the horrific Magdalen laundries which only closed down far too recen......more

Quotes

“An eerie gothic thriller.”—Samantha Downing, USA Today bestselling author of A Twisted Love Story

“[C. J. Cooke is] a master of the feminist gothic!”—Katherine May, New York Times bestselling author of Enchantment


“Haunting.”—Sara Sheridan, author of The Secrets of Blythswood Square

"Intriguing, atmospheric, thought-provoking."—Alexandra Bell, author of The Winter Garden

"The Ghost Woods rattles along, with a twisty plot that defies expectations right from the start...Highly enjoyable."—Sally Hinchcliffe, author of Hare House

"Deliciously unsettling, strangely believable."—Carly Reagon, author of The Toll House

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