Title: THE WOMAN IN THE MIRROR
Author: Rebecca
James
Book Description:
For more than two centuries,
Winterbourne Hall has stood atop a bluff overseeing the English countryside of
Cornwall and the sea beyond.
In 1947, Londoner Alice Miller accepts a post as governess at Winterbourne,
looking after Captain Jonathan de Grey’s twin children. Falling under the de
Greys’ spell, Alice believes the family will heal her own past sorrows. But
then the twins’ adoration becomes deceitful and taunting. Their father, ever
distant, turns spiteful and cruel. The manor itself seems to lash out. Alice
finds her surroundings subtly altered, her air slightly chilled. Something
malicious resents her presence, something clouding her senses and threatening
her very sanity.
In present day New York, art gallery curator Rachel Wright has learned she is a
descendant of the de Greys and heir to Winterbourne. Adopted as an infant, she
never knew her birth parents or her lineage. At long last, Rachel will find
answers to questions about her identity that have haunted her entire life. But
what she finds in Cornwall is a devastating tragic legacy that has afflicted
generations of de Greys. A legacy borne from greed and deceit, twisted by
madness, and suffused with unrequited love and unequivocal rage.
My musings:
Is there anything better
than a creepy ghost story? I was supposed to read this book as a group read, in
three instalments. I started it in the morning, and read the whole book in a
day. I blame the ghost of Winterbourne Hall for this buddy-read fail – I am
convinced that it bewitched me! So enter carefully, at your own risk, because
this book will get under your skin.
Rebecca
James has mastered what a lot of writers have tried and failed to do – found
the perfect formula for a creepy, Gothic ghost story which never crossed the
line for me into the over-the-top paranormal, eye-rolling ridiculousness or
graphic horror. And yet its undertones of menace and danger to our main
protagonists creeped me out enough that the story followed me into my sleep in
the form of bizarre dreams.
As another
sign of the author’s skill, the dual timelines in the book worked perfectly
here. I often find that one timeline will overshadow the other, or one
character be more interesting than another. As the 1940’s timeline gave way to
the present, I was briefly concerned that modern, big city girl Rachel would
not be as enigmatic as the poor hapless Alice who took on the nannying position
at Winterbourne Hall. But I should not have worried, because soon Rachel was in
just as deep as Alice as the house was weaving its evil spell. Blimey, this
book was a great read from start to finish! And the best bit was the final
sting of the scorpion’s tail just when everyone thought that the danger had
passed. *applause* Well done, Rebecca James!
All in all,
if you are looking for a spooky, Gothic Halloween or autumn read, then look no
further. There’s witchcraft, an evil spell, a haunted old mansion (with
gargoyles, no less), a remote atmospheric setting, a pair of creepy twins and
an undercurrent of menace and danger that will get under your skin. Whilst it
wasn’t as scary as some in our reading group would have liked, the balance was
just right for me and THE WOMAN IN THE MIRROR
will definitely go on my list of favourite ghostly reads. I thoroughly
enjoyed it!
Thank
you to Edelweiss and Minotaur Books for the free electronic copy of this novel and
for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.
-
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Title: THE CORSET
Author: Laura
Purcell
Book Description:
Is prisoner Ruth Butterham mad or a
murderer? Victim or villain?
Dorothea and Ruth. Prison visitor and prisoner. Powerful and powerless.
Dorothea Truelove is young, wealthy and beautiful. Ruth Butterham is young,
poor and awaiting trial for murder.
When Dorothea's charitable work leads her to Oakgate Prison, she is delighted
with the chance to explore her fascination with phrenology and test her
hypothesis that the shape of a person's skull can cast a light on their darkest
crimes. But when she meets teenage seamstress Ruth, she is faced with another
theory: that it is possible to kill with a needle and thread. For Ruth
attributes her crimes to a supernatural power inherent in her stitches.
The story Ruth has to tell of her deadly creations – of bitterness and
betrayal, of death and dresses – will shake Dorothea's belief in rationality
and the power of redemption.
Can Ruth be trusted? Is she mad, or a murderer?
My musings:
“Victorian chiller” is a perfect description of
this book, because it chilled me to the core! Not only are the descriptions of
life for poor young women in the Victorian era a sober reminder of hardships
regularly endured in those times, but there is also an underlying menace and a
faint air of the supernatural that makes this a perfect Halloween read.
Both main protagonists are
fascinating and enigmatic female characters. Ruth Butterham is a young
seamstress sold to an evil dressmaker to pay off her family’s debts, endowed
with an uncanny skill of embroidery that may hold more power than just being
admired for its fine needlework. On the other hand we have Dorothea Truelove,
an intelligent, free spirited gentlewoman dependent on her stern father who
seems only interested in marrying her off to the best suitor because her
spinsterhood at 25 is an embarrassment to him. The two women meet through
Dorothea’s charitable work and interest in phrenology as Ruth is imprisoned for
murdering her late mistress. As Ruth confides in Dorothea what has brought her
to this point in time, the sorry tale of her childhood and abuse at the hands
of her late employers unrolls, and it was a chilling tale indeed!
Apart from the constant tension and
air of mystery underlying the story, I found Purcell’s descriptions of life in
the Victorian era fascinating. If you have never heard of phrenology, it is a
pseudoscience involving the measurements of bumps and irregularities of the
cranium to predict personality traits, such as the murderous tendencies
Dorothea is trying to predict in her female prisoners. First founded in the 18th
century, this was apparently a popular belief in the Victorian era and the
first time that different functions were attributed to different areas of the
brain.
Also fascinating were the beliefs of
witchcraft and sorcery as causes of terrible illnesses that thankfully have
become nearly extinct today thanks to immunisation, such as diphtheria, which
claimed many infants, including Ruth’s baby sister. And then there is poison,
seemingly a preferred choice of the times to do away with unwanted relatives or
rivals. It made me shiver!
As the two women are thrown together
by fate, the stark division of class in the Victorian era is exposed. However,
this does not mean that Dorothea does not have her own obstacles to overcome,
as we soon found out. Both POVs were so well written that they captured me
equally and filled me with a terrible sense of dread. I do love such
deliciously wicked Gothic tales!
But best of all was the final twist,
which still makes me wonder whether Ruth’s gift was real, or merely a figment
of her imagination and the superstitions of the era. I’ll let you work that one
out for yourself. It may have seemed like a slow-burner of a story, but it had
an undercurrent of menace and danger that made my heart race. I thoroughly
enjoyed it!
