Ghost Story may be the sub-title but this book is more about British History, politics and religion in the 17th and 18th Century England & Ireland. The history revolves around the checkered career of Richard Atherton, an English clergyman who rose to the position of Bishop in Ireland. His downfall came after he was accused of sodomy by one of his victims. This was followed by other rumours of fathering a baby with his wife's sister and then killing the baby. Atherton is the only bishop to be executed for sodomy, a law he ironically is supposed to have fostered. The ghost is a woman from his area of England who is supposed to have asked a relative go to Ireland to warn the Bishop to repent before the accusation became public. He didn't. The ghost is supposed to have been seen for many years after. Marshall uses this to make this to make this book a history of belief in ghosts during this period in England's history. Marshall searched out many primary sources to show how this belief was handled at different times depending on what group was in power- Church of England supporters or reformists. Some knowledge of British History of the period would be an advantage to fully enjoy this work. ( )

This is a work of substantial scholarship that wears its learning delightfully lightly; provided, that is, you skip the 50 pages of endnotes.

Marshall takes us on a mystery tour through that 'other country' we call the past, stopping off in different times from the 1640s down to the present day to examine how the folk legend of Mother Leakey's ghost and the actual execution in 1640 by hanging of a Bishop of the Church of Ireland have been reinvented, retold and interwoven.

It is also a narrative of a personal journey in the style of a detective story as we accompany Marshall on his quest through archives and scandal sheets. Paradoxically, the more 'facts' we know the less sure we can be about the 'truth' of anything.

In the end Marshall, himself a Professor of History, concludes that history is the telling of stories; stories that reveal as much about the contemporary world of the teller as they do about the past they seek to portray.

The writing is elegant and the story (not to mention the history) absorbing.

Warmly recommended. ( )