Stavrakis

By Nicholas Foster

A ghost story set in wartime Greece. A story of shadow-puppets and of a shadow world. A sequel to 'Four Ghost Stories', 'Four More Ghost Stories', 'The Consul from Tunis', 'The Ghostwriter', 'The Ragged Girl', 'Close to the Wall' and 'The Hand of Justice' (all collected as 'Thirteen Ghost Stories'). Stories more thoughtful than violent but where the Past can meet the Present in a short sharp shock. All available for free download.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nicholas Foster
• Release date: Jan 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005101015

Nicholas Foster

I have published ten small books of ghost stories on Smashwords; 'Four Ghost Stories' (The Rustling of Silk, The Comrades, Joining the Dance, Ghosts in the Machine), 'Four More Ghost Stories' (Mr Westgrove, The Ghosts Within, A Sound of Singing, The Final Page), 'The Consul from Tunis', 'The Ghostwriter', 'The Ragged Girl', 'Close to the Wall', 'The Hand of Justice', 'Stavrakis', 'On the Bridge' and 'The Ice House'. Many of the stories draw on places where I've lived and worked. All the characters are fictitious, even the ghosts, except for those who have walked out of the pages of History. All my books are available for free download on Smashwords. A collected print version, 'The Consul from Tunis: and other ghost stories' is available as a paperback from Amazon.

Book preview

STAVRAKIS

Nicholas Foster

Published by Nicholas Foster at Smashwords

Copyright 2021 Nicholas Foster

Smashwords Edition, Licence Notes. Thank you for downloading this ebook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form.

Chapter One

In my case, said Richard, it always seems to be illness that brings me up against ghosts. The worst time was when I was medi-vacced from a job in Mozambique. I had been there for over three years working in the field with a small team of local staff. And we had been very busy. The country was still in a mess after the Civil War. The farmers that were left were only just beginning to return to their land. We had to start with food distribution and a medical programme before we could move on to irrigation and seed projects and literacy campaigns to try and help restart what schools there were. The only thing that helped us, and it was a big help, was that the Civil War remained dormant and we were spared drought, floods and locusts for the whole three years. It was as though the Gods looked kindly on us and allowed us some breathing space to rebuild in the wreckage of this man-made disaster.

My own experience of such jobs has been that you can run for several years on