Set initially on a hop farm in Kent at the end of the 19th century, The Visitors is the story of Adeliza Golding, a girl born with limited sight who in early childhood contracts an illness which renders her both deaf and completely blind. Her only communication is with the Visitors, ghosts she speaks to in her head. Although her family is both caring and loving, her life is one of darkness, anger and confusion. When, in a fit of distress, she runs from the house into the fields she meets Lottie, a young hop-picker who takes her hand and communicates by finger spelling. The world opens up for Adeliza with Lottie as her tutor and she begins a journey from childhood to adulthood that also takes her from Kent to South Africa during the Boer War where she learns the truth of what the Visitors are. Mascull’s prose beautifully brings to life the revelation of the world to Adeliza using all the senses.

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