Mary Rose
Author: Geoffrey Girard
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Adaptive Books (April 17, 2018)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1945293500
ISBN-13: 978-1945293504
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Adaptive Books (April 17, 2018)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1945293500
ISBN-13: 978-1945293504
Book Description:
Mary Rose Moreland and Simon Blake are the perfect couple: successful young professionals in Philadelphia, attractive, madly in love, and ready to start a life together. When they travel to England for Simon to ask her parents’ permission to marry Mary Rose, he learns an unsettling secret: Mary Rose disappeared when she was a little girl while the family was vacationing on a remote Scottish island. She reappeared mysteriously thirty-three days later in the exact same spot without a scratch on her and no memory of what had happened.
After Simon hears about this disturbing episode in Mary Rose’s childhood, he becomes obsessed with finding out what happened. He proceeds to launch his own investigation and arranges during their honeymoon for them to visit the island where she disappeared. But as Mary Rose’s behavior gets stranger after their engagement, the need for Simon to unlock the truth about her past grows even more urgent. What he uncovers is beyond his most terrifying fears.
Mary Rose is author Geoffrey Girard’s chilling and modern take on a classic ghost story originally written by J. M. Barrie. And for years, master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock attempted to adapt Mary Rose into a film but was never successful. With this novel, Girard taps into the nightmarish fears that inspired both Barrie and Hitchcock, while also bringing the story to the present day with his own unique voice.
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Praise for MARY ROSE
"An exceptional gothic thriller. Girard's literary roots shine through, and the dread rises with every turn of the page. Mary Rose will send a true chill down your spine. A haunting, scary, and beautifully written novel." ―J.T. Ellison, NYT bestselling author of LIE TO ME
"Girard's eerie descriptions exploit the fear of the unknown and the unnatural; and secretive characters, including the enigmatic island, hide their intentions. This is a nightmarish tale of repressed memories and misdirection." ―Publishers Weekly
"The supernatural terror in MARY ROSE is masterfully invoked via a setting that quietly feeds on the past. Yet the novel's most chilling element is its aching and desperate love story. The titular character is as multifaceted as a dark gem, and Geoffrey Girard's genius is in his ability to cause fear of, and for, Mary Rose at the same time. MARY ROSEhas the effect of burrowing under your skin, lodging next to your throat - and then your heart." ―Vicki Pettersson, NY Times and USA Today Bestselling author of SWERVE and SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC series
"Mary Rose is an elegant, classic ghost story that is, at once, truly literate and truly scary. Geoffrey Girard is a storyteller at the top of his game." ―Jacquelyn Mitchard, #1 NY Times bestselling author of The Deep End of the Ocean and Two if by Sea
EXCERPT
The river seemed closer than it had the first time, and Mary Rose walked with growing certainty, feeling the strength in her hands, her feet, the sway of her hips. The whisper of the wind lifting her hair. The river, this night, she thought. Not the ocean, but enough. Connected. Always connected. The river and this night and her striding along its banks so real and so grown-up. So very grown-up . . .
She almost didn’t notice the boy beside her when she stopped to draw in the cool, chill night air, to revel in the water’s siren call. The stars now dripping blood. The ground yawning open by her resolve, its grim and stalwart shades scrabbling free to lay every kind of death in her employ. She, herself, making the ghosts. Roaming barefooted over their graves, hair unbound, passing through the infinite shades of night.
“Hey, look,” the boy stammered. His hand moved in hers, tugging but not quite frantic, not quite a broken-winged bird scrabbling to get away. But close. “Look, I was just messing around. I didn’t—”
Mary Rose looked up at him.
The boy’s eyes had narrowed, then widened until his face looked like a skin-stripped skull. He groaned, more of a whimper, escaping like a death rattle from cracked quivering lips. “What’s that . . . smell? Please . . .” He lifted both hand to cover his mouth.
Mary Rose came closer, stood on her tiptoes to better reach his face. Moved her face within inches of his exposed neck. Breathing in the warmth there, the familiar scent of salt water, cold and damp and so, so right.
He trembled against her, however unable to step away. “I . . . I . . . Please . . .” he whimpered again as bloody spittle dribbled down his chin. Must have bit the insides of his own mouth.
She stepped back again and stared at him, their eyes locked.
A minute passed, a month, or twenty years.
Until, eventually, she turned away.
She needed to get that coffee from Chic’s. Simon would worry. He always worried, wanted nothing more for her to be happy. For her to laugh. For the two of them to be together, joyful and filled with love, stepping into their fresh, new life together. Always together.
The boys were waiting near the rubbish bin where she’d left them, and they stared at her expectantly. Then one of them, then a second, started for the river bank, passing her with confused stares.
“What did you do to him?” someone shouted, the accusation only now shading into fear.
Mary Rose ignored the question, kept walking. She owed no explanation. And, to be fair, she still didn’t know the answer.
"An exceptional gothic thriller. Girard's literary roots shine through, and the dread rises with every turn of the page. Mary Rose will send a true chill down your spine. A haunting, scary, and beautifully written novel." ―J.T. Ellison, NYT bestselling author of LIE TO ME
"Girard's eerie descriptions exploit the fear of the unknown and the unnatural; and secretive characters, including the enigmatic island, hide their intentions. This is a nightmarish tale of repressed memories and misdirection." ―Publishers Weekly
"The supernatural terror in MARY ROSE is masterfully invoked via a setting that quietly feeds on the past. Yet the novel's most chilling element is its aching and desperate love story. The titular character is as multifaceted as a dark gem, and Geoffrey Girard's genius is in his ability to cause fear of, and for, Mary Rose at the same time. MARY ROSEhas the effect of burrowing under your skin, lodging next to your throat - and then your heart." ―Vicki Pettersson, NY Times and USA Today Bestselling author of SWERVE and SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC series
"Mary Rose is an elegant, classic ghost story that is, at once, truly literate and truly scary. Geoffrey Girard is a storyteller at the top of his game." ―Jacquelyn Mitchard, #1 NY Times bestselling author of The Deep End of the Ocean and Two if by Sea
EXCERPT
The river seemed closer than it had the first time, and Mary Rose walked with growing certainty, feeling the strength in her hands, her feet, the sway of her hips. The whisper of the wind lifting her hair. The river, this night, she thought. Not the ocean, but enough. Connected. Always connected. The river and this night and her striding along its banks so real and so grown-up. So very grown-up . . .
She almost didn’t notice the boy beside her when she stopped to draw in the cool, chill night air, to revel in the water’s siren call. The stars now dripping blood. The ground yawning open by her resolve, its grim and stalwart shades scrabbling free to lay every kind of death in her employ. She, herself, making the ghosts. Roaming barefooted over their graves, hair unbound, passing through the infinite shades of night.
“Hey, look,” the boy stammered. His hand moved in hers, tugging but not quite frantic, not quite a broken-winged bird scrabbling to get away. But close. “Look, I was just messing around. I didn’t—”
Mary Rose looked up at him.
The boy’s eyes had narrowed, then widened until his face looked like a skin-stripped skull. He groaned, more of a whimper, escaping like a death rattle from cracked quivering lips. “What’s that . . . smell? Please . . .” He lifted both hand to cover his mouth.
Mary Rose came closer, stood on her tiptoes to better reach his face. Moved her face within inches of his exposed neck. Breathing in the warmth there, the familiar scent of salt water, cold and damp and so, so right.
He trembled against her, however unable to step away. “I . . . I . . . Please . . .” he whimpered again as bloody spittle dribbled down his chin. Must have bit the insides of his own mouth.
She stepped back again and stared at him, their eyes locked.
A minute passed, a month, or twenty years.
Until, eventually, she turned away.
She needed to get that coffee from Chic’s. Simon would worry. He always worried, wanted nothing more for her to be happy. For her to laugh. For the two of them to be together, joyful and filled with love, stepping into their fresh, new life together. Always together.
The boys were waiting near the rubbish bin where she’d left them, and they stared at her expectantly. Then one of them, then a second, started for the river bank, passing her with confused stares.
“What did you do to him?” someone shouted, the accusation only now shading into fear.
Mary Rose ignored the question, kept walking. She owed no explanation. And, to be fair, she still didn’t know the answer.
About the Author
Geoffrey Girard writes thrillers, historicals, and dark speculative fiction. His first book, Tales of the Jersey Devil, thirteen original tales based on American folklore, was published by Middle Atlantic Pressin 2005, followed by Tales of the Atlantic Pirates (2006) and Tales of the Eastern Indians (2007). Simon and Schuster published two Girard novels simultaneously in 2013: CAIN'S BLOOD, a techno thriller, and PROJECT CAIN, a companion novel for teen/YA readers which was nominated for a Bram Stoker award for "Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel."
In 2017, Carolrhoda Books published TRUTHERS, a YA novel about the 9/11 conspiracy, and Adaptive Books published MARY ROSE, a psychological thriller/ghost novel.
Girard's short fiction has appeared in several best-selling anthologies and magazines, including Writers of the Future (a 2003 winner), Prime Codex, Aoife's Kiss, The Willows, Murky Depths, Apex Horror & Science Fiction Digest, and the Stoker-nominated Dark Faith anthology. The debut collection of his short fiction, first communions, was published by Apex Books in May, 2016.
Born in Germany and shaped in New Jersey, Geoffrey currently lives in Ohio and is the English Department Chair at a famed private boys' high school. Prior to teaching, he worked as an advertising copywriter, web developer and marketing manager. He has a BA in English literature from Washington College and an MA in creative writing from Miami University, where he is now working on an MFA. He has presented and led workshops on creative writing at schools, bookstores and various writers' conventions/events.
Photo Content from Geoffrey Girard
In 2017, Carolrhoda Books published TRUTHERS, a YA novel about the 9/11 conspiracy, and Adaptive Books published MARY ROSE, a psychological thriller/ghost novel.
Girard's short fiction has appeared in several best-selling anthologies and magazines, including Writers of the Future (a 2003 winner), Prime Codex, Aoife's Kiss, The Willows, Murky Depths, Apex Horror & Science Fiction Digest, and the Stoker-nominated Dark Faith anthology. The debut collection of his short fiction, first communions, was published by Apex Books in May, 2016.
Born in Germany and shaped in New Jersey, Geoffrey currently lives in Ohio and is the English Department Chair at a famed private boys' high school. Prior to teaching, he worked as an advertising copywriter, web developer and marketing manager. He has a BA in English literature from Washington College and an MA in creative writing from Miami University, where he is now working on an MFA. He has presented and led workshops on creative writing at schools, bookstores and various writers' conventions/events.
Photo Content from Geoffrey Girard
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