#BlogTour ‘The Burning Girls’ by CJ Tudor

About the book…

‘Hypnotic and horrifying . . . Without doubt her best yet, The Burning Girls left me sleeping with the lights on‘ Chris Whitaker, bestselling author of Waterstones Thriller of the Month ‘We Begin At The End’

‘A gothic, spine-tingling roller-coaster of a story . . . CJ Tudor is a master of horror’ C.J Cooke, author of ‘The Nesting’

500 years ago: eight martyrs were burnt to death
30 years ago: two teenagers vanished without trace
Two months ago: the vicar committed suicide

Welcome to Chapel Croft.

For Rev Jack Brooks and teenage daughter Flo it’s supposed to be a fresh start. New job, new home. But, as Jack knows, the past isn’t easily forgotten.

And in a close-knit community where the residents seem as proud as they are haunted by Chapel Croft’s history, Jack must tread carefully. Ancient superstitions as well as a mistrust of outsiders will be hard to overcome.

Yet right away Jack has more frightening concerns.

Why is Flo plagued by visions of burning girls?
Who’s sending them sinister, threatening messages?
And why did no one mention that the last vicar killed himself?

Chapel Croft’s secrets lie deep and dark as the tomb. Jack wouldn’t touch them if not for Flo – anything to protect Flo.

But the past is catching up with Chapel Croft – and with Jack. For old ghosts with scores to settle will never rest . .

Huge thanks to Gaby Young from Penguin Michael Joseph for having me on the blogtour for ‘The Burning Girls’ by CJ Tudor which is out on the 21st January in hardcover and ebook formats.

*Apologies for the delay in posting, this was due to the entire family having Covid and January basically being a washout!*

Wow. That is all.

This is an incredible novel that uses the nature of faith, hope, organised religion and belief against a back drop of superstition, the unproven and the ‘felt’ experience.

It is a novel of metamorphosis as both Jack and Flo ‘grow’ into their new roles, Jack as a single parent vicar after the death of her husband, moving to a new parish and Flo as teen becoming more aware of her place in the world as a woman.

Gender roles and how women are viewed in society are neatly skewered by the perceptions which people have about them, especially in the small towns and villages which CJ Tudor writes about with both accuracy and flair.

Great scenes catch you breath, keep you on edge and plunge you deep into the story as you question both what Flo and Jack are experiencing and also get you thinking about, and challenging, held beliefs. Folk horror and superstition come alive in CJ’s hands, in the finest tradition of another favourite writer of mine, James Hebert.

She has the knack of making you deeply care about her characters whilst forever keeping them on the verge of being written into scenes that terrify them-in this case, the long held belief about the Burning Girls, two girls burnt for witchcraft, whether proved or not was irrelevant-and then the subsequent disappearance of 2 teenage girls, the suicide of the last vicar.

Jack has been sent to Chapel Croft to get away from something which is not immediately revealed, all you know is that it had serious consequences and as such, has her questioning her vocation, the structure of the church and her faith.

The horror starts off early with a classic bait and switch scene that has you gasping then clutching your chest with relief, and that set up leads to some very dark places where you might wish for the more mundane images of a child covered in blood!

You know what you are getting when you buy a CJ Tudor novel, your hairs are prepared to stand to attention, your children are prepared to eat any old nonsense you serve up between chapters, and the hours flow by like water under a bridge from day to night with no obvious transition….these are books which are to be devoured, enjoyed and then to go and double check that the doors and windows are locked and bolted tight.

About the author….

C. J. Tudor was born in Salisbury and grew up in Nottingham, where she still lives with her partner and young daughter.

She left school at sixteen and has had a variety of jobs over the years, including trainee reporter, radio scriptwriter, shop assistant, ad agency copywriter and voiceover.

In the early nineties, she fell into a job as a television presenter for a show on Channel 4 called Moviewatch. Although a terrible presenter, she got to interview acting legends such as Sigourney Weaver, Michael Douglas, Emma Thompson and Robin Williams. She also annoyed Tim Robbins by asking a question about Susan Sarandon’s breasts and was extremely flattered when Robert Downey Junior showed her his chest.

While writing the Chalk Man she ran a dog-walking business, walking over twenty dogs a week as well as looking after her little girl.

She’s been writing since she was a child but only knuckled down to it properly in her thirties. Her English teacher once told her that if she ‘did not become Prime Minister or a best-selling author’ he would be ‘very disappointed.’

Twitter @cjtudor @michaeljbooks