The Apple-Tree Throne by Premee Mohamed

Published - Out now

Price - £2.34 kindle eBook

It is the turn of the century in an England that never was. Bright new aqua-plants are generating electricity for the streetlights; news can be easily had on the radio-viz; and in Gundisalvus' Land, the war is over and the soldiers are beginning to trickle home. Amongst these is Lt. Benjamin Braddock, survivor of the massacre that ended the war, and begrudgingly ready to return to a world that, well, doesn't seem to need him any more than it did in peacetime. His friends have homes and families to return to, while he's got nothing but his discharge papers and a couple of unwanted medals. Oh, and one new thing: the furious ghost of his commanding officer.

Fortunately, since the officer's family is so vehemently adamant that Braddock join their rich and carefree fold, he doesn't have much time to fret about being haunted. But the secrets of the war are about to catch up to them all.

We tend to think of ghost stories as belonging to the world of horror but ghosts appear in everything from Shakespeare to Dickens. Yes they can unnerve us but they equally represent the past and our fears as to what comes in our future. It is also worth remembering that terrible things do not always need a supernatural force behind them. In Premee Mohamed’s excellent novella The Apple-Tree Throne we get a glorious piece of storytelling and giving us a very fresh spin on a haunting tale.

Ben Braddock has returned from war to the Great Republic of Britain. He is the only person willing to speak at the funeral of his commanding officer Wickersley. They both fought in the last great battle of the war; which ended in the death of nearly a thousand soldiers and few now really mourn Wickerlsey. Braddock finds himself adrift in a world he no longer finds familiar; the Wickerlsey family is now keen for Braddock to live with them and be catered for but Braddock has not yet told anyone every night the ghost of Wickersley is haunting him and appears ready to speak.

The idea of soldiers after a battle is a familiar theme in fiction. A huge loss of life and ambivalence over who was in the right are perfect grounds for believing there may be unfinished business for those who get left behind. However Mohamed has found a great approach to this tale. Firstly as you have spotted this feels like a Edwardian England but is not - it’s a republic; the other countries mentioned are not quite of the time; wars are seen back home on vidfilms and it’s a time of steam cars and chapattis are a favourite meal for many. This creates a fascinating dissonance because a lot of the story feels like a WW1 or 19th century we suddenly get these unique out of time references. This is not a story exploring how we are in an alternate timeline but it also makes us as readers sit up - this story is going to do something a bit different. For the reader there is a challenge is working out how this new version of our world works and what has stayed the same. It’s a fascinating approach that means we can also avoid some of the well trodden tropes of the past.

In many ways this becomes a story of what happens to those after the war and the key is how Mohamed creates the story using Braddock’s narration. An unusual character who we see was living in poverty prior to the war and found while war is terrible did offer companionships; pay and now he finds himself a little lost as to his purpose now war is over. For him the grief of Wickerlsey’s death is tinged with anger at how we feels Wickersley is responsible for a huge military error and also his conflicting feelings as to how his commanding officer’s family (and in particular his mother and fiancé) are now asking him to live in old rooms; and live in the life now vacated. In some ways a poor man’s dream to have life sorted out but also an uncomfortable awareness that perhaps he is simply being swapped to replace a dead man. All of which gives us a nagging feeling Braddock’s situation isn’t quite right and won’t end well especially as there is now an angry ghost in the mix.

The haunting aspects of the tale are dual sided. We do indeed get Wickersley appearing initially at windows and silent but (with a few suitable jump scares) becoming a more active and vocal participant explaining why they are angry. But equally Braddock is being doubly haunted because alongside this spectre is the memories of the last battle which we get to experience and his unhappy feeling at his guilt to an officer he was close to and respected and how he appear to now live his life: Mohamed makes us feel survivor’s guilt and the horror of being at war where mistakes mean death. All of which may make you feel this is going to be a horror tale and yet ghosts also can help us look at the past again; process it and decide what we want for the future. This surprisingly has an uncertain but warmer ending than I expected and one that makes you look again at the ways characters interacted.

The Apple-tree Throne is a beautiful melancholic ghost story told by a fascinating narrator in a constantly surprising world. As such it unusually brings new life to its subject and makes it a thoughtful tale of loss and hope. Strongly recommended!