Maria's Walk

by Devon De'Ath

Love will find a way. Jack Foreman, a young ex-minister returns home following the sudden death of his parents, grappling with questions and uncertainty. He catches up with Gaby Wagstaff, the kid sister of his childhood best friend. A woman fleeing an executive career in the city, after her inconvenient, long-suppressed psychic abilities begin to intensify. In the woods behind their provincial little English town, a legendary apparition lurks. Every Ardenham child grows up with tales of ‘Maria’s Walk,’ the route which the terrifying spectre of a murdered teenage girl from long ago is said to traverse. When Gaby is plagued by a series of visions from Regency Ardenham and heart-stopping, violent manifestations in the present, her growing bond with Jack leads them to try and finally unearth any truth behind the folklore. The reality of their connection to the haunting, proves more than either could have imagined.

Genres: Fiction

346 pages, Paperback

Published September 27, 2018

About the author

Devon De’Ath was born in the county of Kent, ‘The Garden of England.’ Raised a Roman Catholic in a small, ancient country market community famously documented as ‘the most haunted TOWN in England,’ he grew up in an atmosphere replete with spiritual, psychic, and supernatural energy. Hauntings were commonplace and you couldn’t swing a cat without hitting three spectres, to the extent that he never needed question the validity of such manifestations. As to the explanations behind them?

At the age of twenty, his earnest search for spiritual truth led the young man to leave Catholicism and become heavily involved in Charismatic Evangelicalism. After serving as a part-time youth pastor while working in the corporate world, he eventually took voluntary redundancy to study at a Bible College in the USA. Missions in the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa followed, but a growing dissatisfaction with aspects of the theology and ministerial abuse by church leadership eventually caused him to break with organised religion and pursue a Post-Evangelical existence. One open to all manner of spiritual and human experiences his ‘holy’ life would never have allowed.

After church life, De’Ath served fifteen years with the police, lectured at colleges and universities, and acted as a consultant to public safety agencies both foreign and domestic.

A writer since he first learned the alphabet, Devon De’Ath has authored works in many genres under various names, from Children’s literature to self-help books, through screenplays for video production and all manner of articles.

Reviews

[Bobbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh this book is good! It starts out with a scary encounter a young boy has, when he comes face-to-face with Maria when he's alone in the woods for a few minutes. What he sees is terrifying! He sees a young teen girl floating in the air with a white dress on that is soaked in blood! Her neck has been hacked by an axe until her head is almost completely chopped off. Years later, a young woman who grew up in this town, returns to the area around Abbey Woods where she has her own ghostly encounters which could be dangerous to herself and others. This is a great book, I highly recommend it!

[Sandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won a kindle version of this book through a Goodreads giveaway.
**
This book gave me mixed feelings. I love a good horror book, and was looking forward to reading about the haunting of Maria's Walk. There were certain parts in this book that really captured my attention of how a ghost was plaguing certain areas of this town in Ardenham England.
This story starts with a bang. A scout troop of 11year old boys are camping in the Abby Woods. These woods have a tale of a girl in a white dress drenched in blood, sometimes headless, roaming and haunting these woods. As a young boy goes to relieve himself in the woods he comes face to face with the ghost of Maria's walk.
The story then fast forwards to 32 year old ex-minister Jack Foreman returning home to settle the estate of his late parents. Upon Jack's arrival home he encounters Gabi, the little sister of his grade school best friend. There was always an attraction between the two that seems to have intensified with this reunion. Gabi recently returned back to Ardenham after having numerous psychic experiences.
From here the story the intertwines the past and the present and explains who the ghost of Maria's walk is, and how such a tormentor got to settle in this little town.
Once the tale was told of who the ghost was and their story of how they came to be haunting the woods; god did my heart break a bit. I mean such cruel actions on such a sweet innocent makes you realize the world is always a cruel place.

I wanted to love this book since there were shining moments of pure genius; but some parts were just too unbelievable even for me. Devon De'ath has a great writing style and does capture his readers; while the more religious parts were a bit winded and too much of the focus for me, he always knew when to bring the reader's attention back to the main story line.
At one point there was an idea thrown out from left field that both of the main characters instantly believed in, even though one was the ex-minister and should be against their views.
While this book was enjoyable after a certain point most of the big twists were pretty blatant for the reader to piece together.

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to say that this was definitely an interesting ghost story with a lot of moving pieces that work their way toward an wholly satisfying ending. While there is blood and severed heads, this isn't your typical slasher-type horror/ghost story, but rather more of a meshing together of both a ghost mystery (that definitely has its very scary moments) and a love story. I read this book in one sitting. I took bathroom breaks, and that's all. If it isn't already clear, I loved this book.

As far as ghost stories go, this one is unique for me, as I haven't read anything that remotely resembles it. I think it's fantastically written. I love the characters, the setting, and... the story is just 'wow.' This is my first book by this author, and it won't be my last. I highly recommend it. I would give it more than five stars if that were an option.

[Joaquin Romero · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me about two months to finished this book, the beginning is very good I enjoyed the setting, the atmosphere that projects, but somewhere in the middle, the story bends and it feels like a whole other story, more like an autobiography, where you are questioned about religion, but overall the characters have their own unique personality that makes you emerge in the story, for me is just some chapters that made me put the book down and look the other way and come back when feeling like it.

[G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful Story. I really enjoyed this book, very scary but also romantic, thrilling and will have you questioning spirituality. I highly recommend this book.

[David Atkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

a new take on an old subject

There’s a saying if you go looking for love you won’t find it but it will turn up in the most unexpected places when you’re NOT looking.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book! The storyline was captivating, and Maria's history was incredible—full of twists that kept me on the edge of my seat. It was a compelling read, with moments that felt eerie and scary. Despite the suspense, it remained a beautiful story of love at its core. Highly recommend!