Medlock

Hardcover / ISBN-13: 9781408731635

Price: £16.99

ON SALE: 2nd October 2025

Genre: Horror & Ghost Stories / Suspense

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‘Macabre and frightening’ PAULA HAWKINS
‘Twisted, exhilarating and very, very creepy’ LOUISE CANDLISH
‘Will keep you reading well into the night and awake well beyond that’ CATHERINE COOPER

1978. Mrs. Medlock is the dutiful housekeeper at Marwood Manor. One of the few remaining staff, she protects a dying aristocratic order, serving the Lord and Lady and caring for their sickly young son.

For over the past twenty years, Mrs. Medlock has become the keeper of secrets. Secrets of the family. Secrets of her own. Secrets that may be found in the manor’s walled garden, out of sight but not forgotten.

When a distant relative, Mary, arrives at the property in need of a place to live and with a determination to explore, Mrs. Medlock fears the secrets of Marwood are no longer safe. And digging up the past may have deadly consequences for them all . . .

Reviews

The Secret Garden but not as you know it. Sinister, mysterious, twisty and pulling out all the Gothic stops, this had me hooked from the start to the unexpected and terrifying end
CARLY REAGON
A deliciously dark, Gothic mystery. Kept me up beyond my bedtime!
JANE CORRY
A beautifully written tale of good and evil. Restless, relatable and utterly absorbing. Just make sure you read it with all the lights on
MARION TODD
This bold reimagining of The Secret Garden is a darkly perfect slice of contemporary gothic. It takes the bones of a classic and rebuilds them into something entirely wild and horrifying and new, tightening the screws on the reader at every turn. I can't wait to see what S. G. Hartnell's imagination conjures next . . .
ALEX HAY
A spine-chilling, nerve-jangling web of secrets and illusions. S.G. Hartnell's Medlock is a thing of beauty, draped in darkness. Breathtaking
HELEN FIELDS
A gothic reimagining of The Secret Garden to keep you reading well into the night and awake well beyond that - dark, scary and unexpected
CATHERINE COOPER
If you grew up on The Secret Garden, park your nostalgia and prepare for a seriously hair-raising revisit. Twisted, exhilarating and very, very creepy, Medlock is a triumph. I raced through it
LOUISE CANDLISH
Macabre and frightening, S. G. Hartnell's shocking retelling of the children's classic The Secret Garden will have you on the edge of your seat from the first page until the last
PAULA HAWKINS
S. G. Hartnell's update of The Secret Garden brings a stylish contemporary twist to a much-loved classic. A thoughtful and engaging read
JOHN BOYNE
A dark, sinister, cleverly constructed tale, disturbingly gripping and not for the faint hearted. Hartnell is a shining new talent in the Gothic horror genre
A. A. CHAUDHURI
I LOVED this book. Once I started, I simply could not stop. Such a clever reimagining, and so beautifully written. It was tense, evocative, moody and shocking
LOUISE SWANSON