Ashthorne by April Yates

In the aftermath of WWI, Adelaide Frost is on the run from a family who do not understand her. Hoping to do some good, she signs up to become a nurse at Ashthorne, a manor house newly designated as a convalescence home for injured soldiers. She quickly falls in love with the owner’s daughter, Evelyn, who hides a warm heart beneath a chilly exterior. 

But Evelyn has her suspicions about what’s really happening at the hospital, and as Adelaide helps her investigate, it soon becomes apparent that there are more inhabitants residing at Ashthorne than first thought.

A romantic Gothic treat perfect for fans of Sarah Waters and The Haunting of Bly Manor, Ashthorne is the debut novella by Derbyshire author April Yates, who was inspired to tell this story by the Ice Age art carved into the walls of local caves.

Praise for Ashthorne:

“Lush, powerfully-written, elegiac and disquieting, Ashthorne confirms April Yates as one of the brightest and most talented new stars in the queer horror firmament. It’s grisly, it’s gothic and it’s gay as hell: you’re going to love it”

-- T.C. Parker, author of Hummingbird

"From the very first page, you know Ashthorne House is going to be trouble, and you can't resist. It's dripping with atmosphere and comfortingly familiar, especially if you love a historical manor house setting, but wraps a modern voice around a romance that's to die for. If you've ever thought 'I wish Downton Abbey could be scary and queer', and who among us hasn't, really, then this is the book for you."

-- Alex Woodroe, author of Whisperwood, editor at Tenebrous Press