The Simulacrum is the most famous lost movie in film history – would you tell someone your darkest secrets, just to lay hands on a copy? 

104-year-old Mary Arden is the last surviving cast member of a notorious lost film. Holed up in Garthside, an Art Deco mansion reputed to be haunted, she has always refused interviews. 

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Now Mary has agreed to talk to film enthusiast Theda Garrick. In return she demands all the salacious details of Theda’s tragic past. Only the hint of a truly stupendous discovery stops Theda walking out. 

But Mary’s prying questions are not the only thing Theda has to fear. The spirit of The Simulacrum walks Garthside by night, and it will turn an old tragedy into a new nightmare…

My Review

The book begins with Theda Garrick attending her husband’s funeral. She is devastated, but at this point we know nothing of the circumstances surrounding his death. Seven months later she has secured herself an interview with 104-year-old film star Mary Arden (born the same year as my own mother). My mother used to tell me about the film stars she and my grandmother adored – Theda Bara, Clara Bow, Greta Garbo (her favourite) and later Veronica Lake after whom she named me, albeit with a different spelling.

Others have tried to meet Mary Arden and failed, so why has Theda succeeded?

On the way to Mary’s Art Deco home Garthside, Theda drives into a ford and breaks down. The weather is horrendous, but luckily she is rescued by the lovely Angus, who manages to tow her out and then gives her a lift to Garthside. But I digress.

Theda is scheduled to meet Mary the following afternoon – in the meantime she is shown around by the strange Mrs Harris, who warns her never to enter the double doors which lead into the West Wing, where Mary lives.

The first thing Mary tells Theda the next day, is that she can only give her an hour each day as she gets too tired. She also informs Theda, that for everything she is prepared to reveal, Theda must give her something in return. That’s the deal, and Theda must decide just how much she wants The Simulacrum, the most famous lost movie in film history.

I love that the way we discover what happened to her husband Max is told by Theda herself as part of the tit-for-tat arrangement. But I never could have imagined how this book would pan out when I started reading. Chilling, creepy, and sinister, I loved every scary minute.

Many thanks to @lovebookstours for inviting me to be part of the #JumpCutTour

About the Author

Helen Grant (born 1964 in London) is an author of novels for young adults, now based in Scotland. Her first novel, The Vanishing of Katharina Linden, was published by Penguin Books in April 2009. It was shortlisted for the Booktrust Teenage Prize and the CILIP Carnegie Medal. It has also been published in Germany as Die Mädchen des Todes, and has been published in Spain, Holland and the US. Her second novel, The Glass Demon, was published by Penguin in May 2010. It was shortlisted for the ITW Awards Best Paperback Original category. Her third novel Wish Me Dead was published in 2011 and nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal.

In addition to her novels for young adults, she has been a regular contributor to the M.R. James Ghosts & Scholars Newsletter. Her short fiction and non fiction have been published in Supernatural Tales, All Hallows and by the Ash Tree Press. She has also provided a new translation of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s Das Öde Haus in The Sandman & Other Night Pieces (Tartarus Press). In 2018 Helen’s Ghost was published by Fledgling Press. Ghost was the first of Helen’s books to be set in Scotland. Jump Cut was published in September 2023.

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