Please join us for a special edition of our Contemporary Gothic Reading Group, which will feature readings and a Q and A with horror writer Susan Barker.

The event will include time for discussion of Old Soul, Susan’s recently published novel in relation to contemporary horror fiction.

Booking will open soon.

About the book:

When two grieving strangers meet by chance in Osaka airport they uncover a disturbing connection. Jake’s best friend and Mariko’s twin brother each died, 6,000 miles apart, in brutal and unfathomable circumstances.

Each encountered a mesmerising, dark-haired woman in the days before their deaths. A woman who came looking for Mariko – and then disappeared.

Jake, who has carried his loss and guilt for a decade, finds himself compelled to follow the trail set by Mariko’s revelations. It’s a trail that weaves across continents and centuries, leading back to the many who have died – in strange and terrifying and eerily similar ways – and those they left behind: bewildered, disbelieved, yet resolutely sure of what they saw.

And, at the centre of it all, there is the same beguiling woman. Her name may have changed, but her purpose has never wavered, and as Jake races to discover who, or what she is, she has already made her next choice.

This event will be hosted by the Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies, https://manchestergothic.mmu.ac.uk/ The Contemporary Gothic reading group runs every year between May and July and usually offers a combination of in-person and online events, including author talks. For more information, please visit our Gothic Centre website or find us on Facebook.