A good story tells itself and gets helped along by a good narrator. The female narration was too 'drama school try hard' for me.

I just happened to listen to it when I was working through some personal stuff and found it very uncomfortable to think about. That part doesn't take up a lot of the storyline, so if you can handle about 1/4 chapter of it being discussed then you should be fine. I found that massively triggering and probably would've avoided it altogether had I known beforehand. The more you hear his side of things the more it becomes clear why he's so intense, but I wish someone had mentioned that it contains elements of abuse. That being said though, the male narrator did a very good job - I just found the character he played irritatingly intense and erratic. I've listened to it twice now and was relieved that I knew the story well enough the 2nd time around to be able to skip over the parts where it goes back to 1864. Summerhayes added: ' The Toll House is a properly scary and page turning novel - I am so thrilled that this deal brings together a trio of Welsh publishing women, author, editor and agent, who will put all their Celtic energy into the publication.Warning Spoilers: Similarly to some of the other reviewers, I'm not usually a huge fan of time-slip novels and this one was no exception. As ever, I am indebted to my agent Cathryn for making this all possible.' Their passion for the novel was clear from the beginning and I am absolutely delighted that it has such a brilliant new home. Reagon commented: 'I'm thrilled to be working with Rosanna and the team at Sphere on The Toll House.

I couldn’t be more excited to bring it to readers next year, and to bring Carly’s enormous talent to the Sphere list.' Like the finest ghost stories, it is most haunting in its portrayal of real human psychology and the horrors that lurk there. The supernatural isn’t just hinted at here, it is front and centre of a novel that is immersive, propulsive and genuinely terrifying. Past and present become tightly intertwined as the novel hurtles towards its 'terrifying' conclusion.įorte said: ' The Toll House is the real deal. As they begin to piece together the dark events that took place in the house in the 1800s, the reader is drawn into the fevered mind of the man who witnessed them first-hand. In the present day, a mother and son uncover a death mask in the walls of their house and soon afterwards a series of sinister happenings unfold.

The debut is billed as a 'hugely gripping' full-length ghost story which will interweave the stories of two families who occupy an old toll house more than 150 years apart. The Toll House will be published in in hardback, e-book and audio in autumn 2022 in time for Halloween.

Sphere has won a three-publisher auction for Carly Reagon's debut The Toll House, plus one other novel.Ĭommissioning editor Rosanna Forte acquired world English rights to two titles from Cathryn Summerhayes at Curtis Brown.

The toll house by carly reagon