Family Secrets Read Online Free
Author: Ruth Barrett
as she huddled over the table. Her face was hidden in her hands and she was weeping. I subtly cleared my
throat to let them know I was in the room. Speechless, they stared up at me.
"What's going on? Who called?"
Rising, Dad came over and led me to the table to sit down next to Mom. He crouched down beside my chair and rested his large hands on my knees. His palms felt hot through the flannel of my pajamas.
“Jill,” he said, “that was your Uncle Chuck on the phone. I‘ve got some bad news for you, honey.” He paused and took a deep, shaky breath, glancing at my mother before he continued. “Your Grandpa’s passed away.”
“When? What happened?”
“Earlier tonight, Chuck stopped by the farm to check up on him and… found him at the bottom of the cellar stairs.”
Mom rubbed my back in a gesture more to comfort herself than to soothe me. Her eyes were red and she looked lost. “He fell. Just like Momma,” she said, her voice choking. “He probably had another stroke and lost his footing.”
“Is he really dead?”
My whole body gave an involuntary twitching shudder. Uncomprehending, I stared at them both for a long moment until the full weight of the revelation hit.
I had been delivered.
I turned to the table, put my head down on my arms, and gave voice to my relief in a flood of heaving sobs. Beneath the table, Benny laid his silky head in my lap and huffed a sigh. He alone understood the real reason I wept.
"I know, Jill. It's hard for us, too."
Mom’s hand continued to stroke my back in gentle circles. When my tears subsided, Dad lifted me into his arms and carried me back up to my bed, and I fell at once into a safe, dreamless sleep.
A Bonus Peek Inside Ruth Barrett’s Novel BASE SPIRITS
‘Murder has took this chamber with full hands
And will ne’er out as long as the house stands.’
~A Yorkshire Tragedy, Act I, Sc. v
In 1605, Sir Walter Calverley’s murderous rampage leaves a family shattered. The killer suffers a torturous execution… but is it truly the end? A noble Yorkshire house stands forever tarnished by blood and possessed by anguished spirits.
Some crimes are so horrific, they reverberate through the centuries.
As an unhappy modern couple vacation in the guesthouse at Calverley Old Hall, playwright Clara, and her scholar husband, Scott, unwittingly awaken a dark history. Clara is trapped and forced back in time to bear witness to a family’s bloody saga. Overtaken by the malevolent echoes, Scott is pushed over the edge from possessive husband to wholly possessed…
Inspired by a true-life drama in Shakespeare’s day, this is itself a play within a play: a supernatural thriller with a historical core.
Only one player can survive.
Readers love Base Spirits! Here’s what they’re saying…
“Strong characters, vivid descriptions and historical detail join together to create a world where I could lose all thought of myself and dive headlong into the unknown and not want it to end.”
“Base Spirits stays with the reader long after the final pages are consumed and the bedside light extinguished, lingering in the dark, just on the edge of our senses.”
“I can't say enough good things about this book. It grabbed me from the beginning and sucked me in to the story. Ruth Barrett weaves an incredible tale of suspense and horror and tragedy.”
“This isn't a book to be read at night - so realistic, such a marvelously eerie setting and story - that it will keep you up and reading until the end!”
“The author has caught well the dark voices of madness in this ghost story. A real page turner.”
Sound good? Here’s an excerpt from Base Spirits to whet your appetite…
York, England, 1605
Sir Thomas Leventhorpe had failed the victims in life.
throat to let them know I was in the room. Speechless, they stared up at me.
"What's going on? Who called?"
Rising, Dad came over and led me to the table to sit down next to Mom. He crouched down beside my chair and rested his large hands on my knees. His palms felt hot through the flannel of my pajamas.
“Jill,” he said, “that was your Uncle Chuck on the phone. I‘ve got some bad news for you, honey.” He paused and took a deep, shaky breath, glancing at my mother before he continued. “Your Grandpa’s passed away.”
“When? What happened?”
“Earlier tonight, Chuck stopped by the farm to check up on him and… found him at the bottom of the cellar stairs.”
Mom rubbed my back in a gesture more to comfort herself than to soothe me. Her eyes were red and she looked lost. “He fell. Just like Momma,” she said, her voice choking. “He probably had another stroke and lost his footing.”
“Is he really dead?”
My whole body gave an involuntary twitching shudder. Uncomprehending, I stared at them both for a long moment until the full weight of the revelation hit.
I had been delivered.
I turned to the table, put my head down on my arms, and gave voice to my relief in a flood of heaving sobs. Beneath the table, Benny laid his silky head in my lap and huffed a sigh. He alone understood the real reason I wept.
"I know, Jill. It's hard for us, too."
Mom’s hand continued to stroke my back in gentle circles. When my tears subsided, Dad lifted me into his arms and carried me back up to my bed, and I fell at once into a safe, dreamless sleep.
A Bonus Peek Inside Ruth Barrett’s Novel BASE SPIRITS
‘Murder has took this chamber with full hands
And will ne’er out as long as the house stands.’
~A Yorkshire Tragedy, Act I, Sc. v
In 1605, Sir Walter Calverley’s murderous rampage leaves a family shattered. The killer suffers a torturous execution… but is it truly the end? A noble Yorkshire house stands forever tarnished by blood and possessed by anguished spirits.
Some crimes are so horrific, they reverberate through the centuries.
As an unhappy modern couple vacation in the guesthouse at Calverley Old Hall, playwright Clara, and her scholar husband, Scott, unwittingly awaken a dark history. Clara is trapped and forced back in time to bear witness to a family’s bloody saga. Overtaken by the malevolent echoes, Scott is pushed over the edge from possessive husband to wholly possessed…
Inspired by a true-life drama in Shakespeare’s day, this is itself a play within a play: a supernatural thriller with a historical core.
Only one player can survive.
Readers love Base Spirits! Here’s what they’re saying…
“Strong characters, vivid descriptions and historical detail join together to create a world where I could lose all thought of myself and dive headlong into the unknown and not want it to end.”
“Base Spirits stays with the reader long after the final pages are consumed and the bedside light extinguished, lingering in the dark, just on the edge of our senses.”
“I can't say enough good things about this book. It grabbed me from the beginning and sucked me in to the story. Ruth Barrett weaves an incredible tale of suspense and horror and tragedy.”
“This isn't a book to be read at night - so realistic, such a marvelously eerie setting and story - that it will keep you up and reading until the end!”
“The author has caught well the dark voices of madness in this ghost story. A real page turner.”
Sound good? Here’s an excerpt from Base Spirits to whet your appetite…
York, England, 1605
Sir Thomas Leventhorpe had failed the victims in life.
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