Haunt

The ghosts of Seacliff stole quietly across the fields, not moving the grass, not shifting the air. And a small one stood back, letting the others pass …

Once upon a time there was a small settlement, north of Dunedin, where a huge psychiatric hospital sprawled on the hillside and a patchwork of farmland sloped down to the cliffs that edged the sea.

Once upon a time there were two women, Irene and Margaret.

This is the story of the friendship that ties them together for almost forty years. As their lives unfold, memories twist and shift and fairytales take on a new and frightening slant.

It is the story of simple human needs, and a terrible secret.

And the small ghost dropped into a crack in the land, and slipped away.

Bronwyn Bannister is a writer living in Dunedin. She has written plays and short stories and her work has been broadcast on National Radio. Haunt is her first novel. She has family connections with Seacliff, where the novel is set.