Chardelia Foss and the River of Fear is an engrossing romantic mystery thriller set in a gothic school in the North East of England.
Fifteen year-old student Chardelia is growing up too fast. Her hometown Amberleigh, a small seaside community, is being threatened. Riddled with dramatic cliffs, gothic castles and abbeys, scenic waterfalls and rivers, picturesque cobbles and lanes, Chardelia would do anything to protect Amberleigh. What is worse, she has a secret none of her classmates know about, as well as a concealed crush on Danny Canterbury. However, Danny is infatuated with Janna Chisely, and too busy to notice Chardelia.
When best friend Amanita Walmer starts a school newspaper in her ambition to be a journalist, Danny struggles with how he can make himself seem worthy to Janna. But as sinister episodes shake the school, the adolescent Danny finds himself at the centre of a destructive plot involving first dates and trigonometry, bombs and mysterious underground caverns. As teachers around Amberleigh begin to mysteriously disappear and die, and explosions rock the school in an apparent terrorist attack, Danny becomes increasingly fascinated by the enigmatic Chardelia. Can she help him rescue the truth? How close will Danny come to understanding Chardelia's true feelings before it is too late? Who is perpetrating the attack within the school? Faced with saving Janna or Chardelia, who will Danny choose?
Amid the terror of moonlit dances, first kisses and swimming lessons, comes terror of a wholly unexpected kind. Chardelia Foss and the River of Fear is a startling debut that marks the pain of first love within the often dark skies of school.