A top film critic gave a sneak-peak of his upcoming ghost book at the Broadway Bookshop this week.
Roger Clarke, film critic for The Independent and Sight & Sound Magazine, gave a reading of his new book: A Natural History of Ghosts, at his “much loved” local book shop on Broadway Market last Thursday.
With a small group of fans packed into the poky venue, the intimate setting gave a spooky prelude to Halloween next week. The book, tracking the social history of the ghost myth, will be released nationwide on 1 November, yet locals were able to get their signed copies two weeks early.
The non-fiction book took Clarke three years to write. He told of his childhood obsession with spirits, that began with a ghostly encounter in his “haunted” childhood home in the Isle of Wight when he was eight years old.
“I saw a ghost at the end of a corridor and since then I have always looked down it. I was determined to see the ghost again!” he said.
He even slept in one of the house’s rooms, and claims he got “haunted”.
Clarke joined the Society for Psychical Research, which investigates paranormal activities, when he was just 14. “Every society needs ghost stories”, he said.
“Ghosts came back into my life suddenly, through a little bit of nostalgia. I find the subject fascinating and the book was an immense pleasure to write”.
Nick James, editor of Sight & Sound, admired Clarke’s work. “His finely turned curiosity is the chief virtues I value in him as a writer. I look forward to reading it”, he said.
