The Companion

A broken church window, smashed in a bid to contain the power trapped within its stained glass...The desperate sobbing of a child who isn’t there...When restoration expert Kit Farris moves into the adjoining Grange with his three daughters, how can he know what dark forces his work will unleash?“A finer, more chilling ghostly novel than most of those recently published. Mr Damp deserves a place in the gallery of great English night creatures. M. R. James might have been proud to have created him, and I certainly would be.”Ramsey Campbell“A high energy fantasy with very powerful scenes. . . a chilling and dramatic end.”Books for Keeps. “This is an excellent book, which celebrates and transcends genre. As much family story as ghost story. A tense drama of abuse, neglect and longing. An old-fashioned ghost tale with a modern edge, consciously a tribute to M R James in its setting and atmosphere. It echoes a book such as Margaret Mahy’s The Changeover in its depiction of children rallying their defences against the urgency of adult appetites.”Neil Philip, The Times “Truly, a Jamesian romp. The author uses his sources with care, in a well-plotted mystery with some genuine chills”Rosemary Pardoe, Ghosts and Scholars

About the Author

Laurence Staig's a career has been in Arts Management as an Arts Council of England Officer, and in local government within the cultural sector. He has worked for the USA Spoleto Festival annually for 7 years and was Artistic Director of many similar festivals in the UK, including 5 years as founding Director of the Bath Literature Festival. Laurence has taught Film and Media at Cambridge University, Warwick University, the Institute of Education (London), and The Open University. His books include the award-winning collection of short stories Dark Toys and Consumer Goods, while other published titles include Technofear, The Glimpses, Digital Vampires, The Network, and Carnival of the Dead. He is the co-author of the first ever book published about the Italian Western, and creator of the much used descript of the genre: "The Opera of Violence".

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