Meet the Author - Margaret Whittock

Margaret Whittock is a writer and researcher, living in London. To date she has written two novels, a non-fiction book, a number of short stories and journal articles. Her first novel, Ghost of Gallipoli, was

inspired by the chance discovery of her great uncles’ graves at V Beach, Gallipoli, during the late 1990s. This poignant find led Margaret to research both the history of the Gallipoli Campaign and that of her own family. Coupled with her personal experiences of diplomatic life in Istanbul, she wrote Ghost of Gallipoli as a tribute, not just to her great uncles, but to all the young men who died so tragically at Gallipoli, and to those they left behind. As the Centenary of the Campaign approaches in April, 2015, prompting remembrance ceremonies across the world, their story is particularly pertinent at this moment in time.

More on all above, and where to purchase Ghost of Gallipoli at: http://www.darkmournepress.com

Ghost of Gallipoli:

The outbreak of World War One: caught up in the fervour of the moment Jack Callaghan leaves his home town in Ulster … and his sweetheart Mary … to enlist in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. The lovers will never see each other again for in the carnage that was Gallipoli Jack loses his young life, violently and prematurely on V Beach. But, though his body is mangled, Jack’s spirit lives on, his appetite for revenge nurtured by the knowledge that he and his comrades were slaughtered needlessly, due to their incompetent officers’ mistakes.              

For over eighty years now this vengeful revenant has bided his time, knowing that one day, someone would come to help him seek the retribution he craves. At last, that person has arrived: Jack’s great-niece, Ellie, relinquishing an academic career to wed her diplomat lover, Harry, in Istanbul. However, unbeknown to Ellie, it isn’t just Harry who awaits her arrival at the historic British Consulate.

Despite her best efforts to settle in, Ellie cannot understand why she finds herself so much at odds with diplomatic culture, or why the Consul General’s wife, Alice, appears to detest her. Ellie’s isolation increases as she learns her new husband and his colleagues are keeping something from her, a secret that everyone else seems aware of. As the atmosphere in the shadowy old Consulate grows ever more sinister, Jack gradually reveals himself to Ellie in a series of spine tingling encounters. Finally, he tells his terrible story to his great-niece, who, by now, is questioning her sanity. Privy to the most secretive of goings on, Jack exposes the political machinations going on around Ellie. Appalled by his revelations, she becomes Jack’s accomplice in his search for retaliation … with unimaginable consequences … not just for Ellie, but all of those around her.

Set against the fabulous background of Istanbul, Ghost of Gallipoli is a ghost story, thriller, and love story … and an account of the trials and tribulations of learning to live in an alien culture. Principally, however, it is a tale of how the sins of the fathers may be revisited on their descendants, regardless of time or place.