Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2014/January 2015 | Page 22

ISLAND LIFE MAGAZINE

Sarah travels
back in time
to discover a
strange curse

A

new fiction book, centred on the
historic and spooky goings-on at
Knighton Gorges, has been written by
married mother of two Sarah Sprules.
The book is titled ‘Knighton Gorges: The
Curse of Thomas Becket' and travels back in
time to the Isle of Wight in the 12th century
with its first known owner Hugh de Morville,
and the beginning of a curse which would
stalk the house for centuries.

The year is 1170 and a disaster is
about to befall Henry II. The King's
loyal servant, Hugh de Morville and
four friends travel to Canterbury,
seeking vengeance for their master.
An act that horrifies the whole of
Christendom, leaves Hugh and
Henry scarred for the rest of their
lives. Hugh flees to the Island and
seeks refuge at Carisbrooke Castle.
Across at Knighton Manor, Cecily
Appley and her family have lost
the head of their family, along with
their wealth.
As servants to the austere Helwis
de Morville, Cecily struggles to come
to terms with her family's change in
circumstances. Sent to the castle with
secret messages for Hugh, Cecily meets a
young knight named Richard le Poulcher.
Her hopes for happiness are threatened
by her mother's erratic behaviour, her
brother's secret deeds and the malice of
her enemy Lettice de Cheney. Follow the

She continued: “I wrote the book
after hearing about the complex
and intriguing history of Knighton
Gorges. I visited the site and it has
such an intense atmosphere, it's
not an experience I ever want to
repeat! I was also lucky enough
to stay in the Bowling Green
Apartment at Carisbrooke Castle
one Halloween and that was an
amazing opportunity to get a feel
for the place I had been writing
about. These two places are so rich
in history, I couldn't not write about
them. The past doesn't ever seem
that far away on the Island and that's
another part of it that I love.”
This is the first book in what is planned
to be a series of seven, charting the
history of Knighton Gorges, until it was
destroyed. The book is available online
from Amazon and from Ryde Bookshop
and Glyn Morgan Newsagents, Shanklin.

“It's my favourite place in
the whole world, and when
I'm not on the Island I like to
write about it, as it's the next
best thing to being there.”

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lives of the inhabitants of Knighton Manor
and find out how they are shaped forever
by the angry outburst of a frustrated king.
Sarah, who live with her family in Bristol,
said: “After my first trip to the Island I fell
in love with it. Now my family and I visit
roughly four times a year. It's my favourit e
place in the whole world, and when I'm
not on the Island I like to write about it, as
it's the next best thing to being there.”