The Spook's Apprentice
core novel 2004 The Wardstone Chronicles
Record
| First published | 2004 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.02 (55,363 ratings, collected 2026-10-31) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780370328263 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
Tom Ward is the seventh son of a seventh son, which means he can see ghosts and other creatures that most people never notice. At twelve, with no farm to inherit, he is sent by his family to learn a hard trade in the County, a fictional version of Lancashire. His master is John Gregory, the County's spook, a solitary man who protects villages from boggarts, ghosts, ghasts and witches. Gregory is stern and keeps his methods practical, using rowan wood, salt and silver. Most of his earlier apprentices have failed. Tom soon befriends Alice Deane, a young girl with witch connections, despite his master's warnings. When a dangerous witch escapes confinement, Tom must decide whom to trust and how much he has really learned.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Wardstone Chronicles
- Series: The Wardstone Chronicles core; position 1 of 13 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Joseph Delaney
Notes
- From the series record (The Wardstone Chronicles): Thirteen novels following Tom Ward, apprentice to the County's spook, from 2004 to 2013.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series The Wardstone Chronicles: position 1 of 13: next The Spook's Curse (2005)
- Internal chronology, within The Wardstone Chronicles: position 1 of 20: next Spook's: A New Darkness (2014)
Sources
← The Wardstone Chronicles dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.