Frozen Charlotte: 1 (Red Eye, 1)

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The much-anticipated prequel to the bestselling Frozen Charlotte, a Zoella Book Club title in Autumn 2016. Following the death of her mother in a terrible fire, Jemima flees to the remote Isle of Skye, to take up a job at a school for girls. There she finds herself tormented by the mystery of what really happened that night. Then Jemima receives a box of Frozen Charlotte dolls from a mystery sender and she begins to remember - a seance with the dolls, a violent argument with her step-father and the inferno that destroyed their home. And when it seems that the dolls are triggering a series of accidents at the school, Jemima realizes she must stop the demonic spirits possessing the dolls - whatever it takes. About This Edition ISBN: We're waiting for you to come and play. Dunvegan School for Girls has been closed for many years. Converted into a family home, the teachers and students are long gone. But they left something behind...Sophie arrives at the old schoolhouse to spend the summer with her cousins. Brooding Cameron with his scarred hand, strange Lillias with a fear of bones and Piper, who seems just a bit too good to be true. And then there's her other cousin. The girl with a room full of antique dolls. The girl that shouldn't be there. The girl that died.

The name of the doll originates from the American folk ballad Fair Charlotte, based on the poem "A Corpse Going to a Ball" [1] by Seba Smith, which tells of a young girl called Charlotte who refused to wrap up warmly to go on a sleigh ride because she did not want to cover up her pretty dress; she froze to death during the journey. [2] To that end she eagerly started a Law Degree only to find it so boring that she was at a very real risk of going completely insane. To mitigate this she started writing again. The second book got her an agent with Carolyn Whitaker of London Independent Books but, unfortunately, not a publisher. The third book, written during her first summer holidays off from university, found a home with Gollancz. The Ninth Circle came out in April 2008 with possibly the most beautiful cover ever created (matched only by her second book, Jasmyn).

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It’s commonly accepted that these dolls were didactic tools, physical representations of the consequences of parental disobedience. It’s widely believed that Victorian children were well-aware of the origin story of these dolls and played with them nonetheless. After all, many aspects of Victorian culture are openly macabre and death-obsessed, so this grisly historical narrative isn’t entirely outlandish. The revelation of how the evil little Frozen Charlotte dolls came to have their power is unsettling and chilling, and reading parts of this late at night in a quiet house I ... admit to looking over my shoulder more than once!... I'd love to see more historical type novels from Alex Bell in future, and eagerly await her next offering. -- Michelle Harrison author of The Thirteen Treasures I loved reading the Point Horror books when I was a teenager. There always seemed to be that extra element of excitement about them that made you more eager to discuss them with friends. I think the appeal of horror is that it allows us to dip our toe into a pretty murky pool that we have no desire whatsoever to actually dive into! There’s a particular thrill that comes from putting yourself in the mind set of characters who are going through hell. I also like that horror is high stakes (someone is almost guaranteed to die, or be horribly injured at some point) and if there’s a supernatural element then you never know what awful thing might happen next. Author Luke Palmer introduces his new book, Play (Firefly Press) about four boys growing up together, the challenges, the friendships, and what hap...

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Grief and death are difficult subjects to write about but I find horror stories more effective when they deal with some real life horror as well as supernatural scares. Losing our loved ones, or dying ourselves, is one of our most fundamental fears, so it’s a useful one to tap into for horror. The winners of The Farshore Reading for Pleasure Teacher Awards 2023, highlighting the work schools are doing to encourage a love of reading, have... I stumbled across the Frozen Charlotte dolls whilst doing research online one day and the idea for the story basically came from there. I thought they were so deliciously creepy and unusual, as well as not being all that well known, so it seemed like a great starting point for a horror novel. I didn’t know exactly how things were going to play out before I started but I had a rough idea. I prefer not to plan my books in too much detail but I do like to know how the book will end. I absolutely love the cover! I thought it captured the mood of the book really well and looked suitably spooky without giving too much away. How do you come up with all the creepy elements to your story? Some of them are so subtle but they still give you that hollow feeling in your stomach.

After Sophie’s best friend dies in a tragic accident, she travels to the isle of Skye in Scotland to visit her relatives, who live there in an old, possibly haunted mansion. Hello Yellow - 80 Books to Help Children Nurture Good Mental Health and Support With Anxiety and Wellbeing - Not one to learn from past experience, Alex started the Legal Practice Course in London. There she met some great people and had a lot of fun messing about during lessons that were clearly meant to be extremely solemn affairs. Thankfully, she dropped out just before the point where all students must submit to the personality-removing process that is a compulsory part of being an esteemed member of the legal profession. I devoured this book in one day. It was so much fun... I want to get a crate of Frozen Charlottes, a box of these books and give one to everyone I know at Hallowe'en -- C Smyth NetGalley I obviously did a lot of research about Frozen Charlottes. I also researched other famous haunted dolls, such as Annabelle and Robert. A common theme seemed to be for a child to be given a haunted doll that caused all kinds of problems in the house, which was blamed on the child at first, until the parents came to believe that the doll moved around by itself, or when there was no one home.

The inspiration for Sophie’s character really came from a lot of gothic romances I’ve read by writers such as Victoria Holt and Madeleine Brent. These often involve a fairly ordinary heroine finding herself in extraordinary surroundings where she has to deal with strange/fascinating/eccentric characters who most often have various dark secrets. There’s very much a sense of not knowing who to trust and things not being as they seem in this type of book, and I really enjoy that kind of ambiguity as a reader. This is horror. Torn between needing to know and fearing for the characters, I read this fast... Compulsive. -- Dawn Woods NetGalley Author Guy Bass introduces SCRAP, about one robot who tried to protect the humans on his planet against an army of robots. Now the humans need his...

The Island of Skye is such a creepy setting in your story! Why did you choose it and did you have to go visit it for research? Now she happily dwells in an entirely make-believe world of blood, death, madness, murder and mayhem. The doctors have advised that it is best not to disturb her, for she appears to be happy there. I’d originally intended for the dolls to be voodoo dolls but it was hard to get too excited about this because they’ve been done so many times before. Frozen Charlotte dolls are quite unique, and not all that many people seem to know about them, so I thought they’d be more interesting. A Frozen Charlotte is a specific form of china or bisque doll made in one solid piece without joints from c. 1850 to c. 1920. They were typically inexpensive, and the name Penny doll is also used, in particular for smallest, most affordable versions. The dolls had substantial popularity during the Victorian era.My favourite scene in the book is probably the end scene in the schoolhouse – and also the bathroom scene – but I can’t say too much about those without giving away spoilers! I still think that the old Point Horror series from the 90s deserves reading, although those books might be a little harder to find now. In terms of chilling ghost stories, I have a fondness for classics such as The Turn of the Screw by Henry James and The Haunting of Toby Jugg by Dennis Wheatley. And for YA horror I’d recommend the other Red Eye books (the series that Frozen Charlotte is from). I have another Red Eye novel called The Haunting, which is about witches and haunted ghost ships. I also enjoyed reading Sleepless by Lou Morgan from the Red Eye series, as well as Jekyll’s Mirror by William Hussey. Learn more about marbles, dominos, dice, toy vehicles, and more found on beaches around the world. Articles ›