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Showing posts with label Gothic fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gothic fiction. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

A Dark Dividing by Sarah Rayne.

This 2011 novel by Sarah Rayne is wonderfully strange and gothic.

At outset, a reporter has a mission to uncover a mystery surrounding a family. He becomes compelled by the photographs that Simone Anderson displays at the Thorne gallery. 

Somehow the journalist can detect Simone's dark secret:

"She had been four years old when she became aware of this inner darkness, and she had been a bit over five when she began to understand where it came from.

The other little girl, The unseen, unheard child whom no one else
could see or hear, but who lay coiled and invisible inside Simone's mind. Simone did not know her name so she just called her the little girl."

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Black Rabbit Hall by Eve Chase.

         When a couple chooses an ancient mansion, Pencraw Hall (aka Black Rabbit Hall) as their wedding venue, strange things come to light. Neither knows the history of the house--the Altons' story--yet Lorna remembers going to the house once while they were on holiday. For an unexplained reason, Lorna is drawn back to this house. 
        In a flashback, readers learn about another family that once lived in Black Rabbit Hall: a wild red-head American lady, her husband, and their children, Amber, Toby, Barney and Kitty. Black Rabbit Hall is a perfect haven for this troop, until a tragic accident changes everything. 
        After his mother's death, Toby becomes cool and distant. He becomes even more troubled when his father begins dating Caroline, an old flame. Amber feels torn between her loyalty towards her twin and her interest in Caroline's son, Lucian.
        The children of the former Mrs. Alton clash with the new Mrs. Alton, especially since she insists on changing everything at Black Rabbit Hall. She despises the family traditions and thwarts them at every turn. She even takes down a beloved portrait of the former Mrs. Alton.
         Decades later she offers her crumbling mansion to Lorna as a wedding venue. But why? If you love books about family secrets, unforgettable characters, and large estates in England, you'll love this book. 

(continued)

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