Louise has the final word

Pupils from Braes High School were involved in this year’s prestigious event, all the entries having a ghostly and mysterious air - and a surprising end.

The judges were faced with a difficult choice before naming Louise Robertson the 2017 winner with Tethered Hope.

Her tale of an apparent kidnapping that turns into something more mysterious and sinister involved family deceit and asked the question if, at the point of ultimate betrayal, the tables van be be turned.

Runner-up Eva Vareille also wrote an imaginative tale, The Dagger, a well-crafted story of a boy killed but given the opportunity to see his past self and not liking what he saw. An opportunity for redemption seemed hopeless with only the opportunity of seeing his final hours relived – or perhaps not.

Arianne Burrow was placed third with Hellenda. Her subject experienced a difficult life only to find themselves somewhere strange after a serious assault. Having died, they were neither in heaven or hell, or were they?

Commended was Leah Kelso’s The Story of a Mourner, a frantic record of a mourning sister trying to get away from her life, but experiencing horror in a lighthouse and broken-down shack.

Falkirk Writers Circle meets in Polmont’s Greenpark Community Centre on Tuesdays at 7.30pm and is always happy to see new writers of all abilities. Email [email protected] for more information.