The Girls and the Ghosts of The Old Manse Revisited: An Australian Fugue Novel (Book 3)

by Ruth Skilbeck.

“With an intriguing premise, this novel brings Irish history vividly to life, told with an arresting voice through the eyes of a 15-year-old girl.”– ERINA REDDAN author of Deep in the Forest and The Serpent’s Skin.

When Roxanne and her family move into The Old Manse, a former 19th century manse in the countryside in Northern Ireland, a new chapter of exciting adventure and peril opens for the almost-thirteen year old budding writer. The Girls and the Ghosts of The Old Manse Revisited by Ruth Skilbeck will take readers on a journey with Roxy, her family, her new friend Margy, and girls from earlier times; over three years from the conflict of the early 1970s Troubles, at home and on road trips including a near fatal van crash in a Swedish blizzard. (Back cover description)

Each of the novels in Ruth Skilbeck's Australian Fugue series can be read as a standalone novel.

Read as a series, the novels proceed through recursion, going back in time, with The Girls and the Ghosts of The Old Manse Revisited also moving forward decades in its ending.

The Girls and the Ghosts of The Old Manse Revisited: An Australian Fugue Novel (Book 3)

Edition: First Edition; Series Edition

Date of publication: 28 August 2025 (paperback)

ISBN: 9780645194135 Paperback 218 pages. $32.99 plus postage. Out now, in stock. Aims to ship from the printer within 3-5 business days.

ISBN: 9780645194142 EBook-pdf 218 pages. $14.99 Out now, in stock. For sale download only on this website.

ISBN: 9780645194128 Hardback 218 pages. $42.99 Forthcoming in September

Publisher: Borderstream Books

Place of publication: Australia

The Girls and the Ghosts of The Old Manse Revisited: An Australian Fugue Novel (Book 3) is also a standalone novel as are the others in the Australian Fugue series by Ruth Skilbeck.

Novel, cover design and image by Ruth Skilbeck Copyright ©2025 Ruth Skilbeck

Fuller description:

When Roxanne and her family move into an old manse house in the countryside in Northern Ireland, a new chapter of exciting adventure and peril opens for the almost-thirteen year old budding writer. The Girls and the Ghosts of The Old Manse Revisited will take readers on a journey with Roxy, her family, her new friend Margy, and girls from earlier times; over three years from the conflict of the early 1970s Troubles; riding her horse in the country; on road trips across Europe and in Ireland; to earlier times.

What is most scary is not the ghost story Roxy and her family are told about the old manse but the mysterious impacts of the traumas of war and conflict, bereavement and accidents revealed by former inhabitants of the site.

A historical coming-of-age novel of ghosts and holidays with environmental, psychological, and supernatural themes.