The Soul Hunters

Lower School pupils packed into the Old Gym, Lower School atrium and the MCT, in their bubbles, to hear from best-selling author of the Gamer, Bodyguard and Young Samurai series’ Chris Bradford, on Wednesday, 12 May.

Having missed being in the library for so much of the year due to Covid-19 restrictions, it was a real treat for the pupils to hear from Chris about his latest series, The Soul Hunters. He began by introducing pupils to the series and reading an extract from the book, before exploring its background and where the themes and ideas behind it had come from.

Chris described the book as a ‘reincarnation thriller’ and went on to captivate Year 7s and 8s with the fascinating ideas of Deja vu and reincarnation - when someone dies, and their soul is reborn in a new form. He described this as going on a soul journey with every new life giving you new lessons.

He described this concept as the inspiration behind his book and talked about his grandmother’s experience when she was young which had intrigued and inspired him. His grandmother, who was not a superstitious person, once visited a stately home which she had never been to before. However, she seemed to know her way around the house and even knew that there was a toilet behind one of the walls. This story fascinated Chris, who himself had vivid dreams and nightmares as a child which he considered could be memories buried deeply into his soul. He talked about his personal phobia of sharks and raised the question of whether this intense fear could be an indication of a past life.

He cited other examples, such as the story of Shanit Devi who at the age of four told her parents about a different life she had experienced – which was then explored by Mahatma Gandhi, and that of a young boy in America, Ryan Hammons, who became known in the media as ‘the boy who lived before.’

“I’m not here to convince you either way,” Chris said to pupils, “but it is an interesting concept and cool to write a thriller series about.”

Pupils were captivated by Chris’s talk and asked insightful questions from ‘How did you get your first book published?’ to ‘Do you still have the same dreams?’ in conclusion.

Thank you, Chris, for such an enjoyable session. There will no doubt be a lot more Soul Hunter readers amongst our Lower School pupils!