Status
Available
Call number
Publication
München : Heyne, 2016. Taschenbuch,
544 S.
Description
"This haunting and richly imagined dual-narrative historical novel, which will appeal to fans of Rebecca and The Little Stranger, features two women of very different eras who are united by the secrets hidden within the walls of an English manor house"--
Media reviews
Real Readers
I was asked to review this book by Real Readers. I was intrigued to read this book as the author lives in Cheltenham and I live in Gloucestershire so parallels from the start.
I was surprised by some of the reviews I did think this book had essences of Kate Morton who writes in the same
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vein.
This was a haunting story set in the 1930s in Gloucestershire. The protagonist Alice is sent to the countryside in disgrace and is under the care of a housekeeper. It gets eerie as Alice thinks she is being watched and things just do not add up. There are secrets hidden in this house and glimpses of a former lady of the manor Elizabeth Stanton and the parallels of these two women.
Haunting and full of twists this is a beautifully written novel.
Due for publication in January 2015, this will be there in the top ten for the summer and will be a great beach read. I will be looking out for this author.
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User reviews
LibraryThing member VanessaCW
I was immediately drawn into this captivating dual timeframe story, set in the 1890s and 1930s, told in the third and first person respectively. It revolves around two women whose situations uncannily mirror each other somewhat.
Alice Eveleigh has been sent to Fiercombe Manor in rural Gloucesteshire
This is an absorbing and atmospheric tale, very much a page turner for me. It is beautifully, lyrically and expressively written. The descriptions of the surroundings are very vivid and easy to imagine. Dual timeframe novels are my favourite genre and this one did not disappoint. The switch between Alice and Elizabeth's stories is expertly executed and completely seamless.
I found 'The Girl in the Photograph' an immensely enjoyable and gripping read, which should definitely appeal to fans of Kate Morton.
Many thanks to Real Readers for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book, which will be published on 15 January.
Alice Eveleigh has been sent to Fiercombe Manor in rural Gloucesteshire
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after she becomes pregnant by a married man, to await the birth and avoid a scandal. There she discovers letters and a diary belonging to the lady of the manor, Elizabeth Stanton, who lived on the estate 40 years previously. As Alice digs deeper into the mystery of Elizabeth's life, she uncovers a sad secret. The two stories are linked by the enigmatic Edith Jelphs, an old friend of Alice's mother, who was once maid to Elizabeth and who is now the housekeeper. Just what is she hiding?This is an absorbing and atmospheric tale, very much a page turner for me. It is beautifully, lyrically and expressively written. The descriptions of the surroundings are very vivid and easy to imagine. Dual timeframe novels are my favourite genre and this one did not disappoint. The switch between Alice and Elizabeth's stories is expertly executed and completely seamless.
I found 'The Girl in the Photograph' an immensely enjoyable and gripping read, which should definitely appeal to fans of Kate Morton.
Many thanks to Real Readers for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book, which will be published on 15 January.
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LibraryThing member bookczuk
Sometimes you need just a book that borders on gothic romance, something with the flavor of those books I eagerly pulled off the shelves when I would race to the library after school to find something new to read; historical novels by the likes of Daphne Du Maurier or Mary Stewart. The kind that
I like that kind of book, occasionally, especially when life has forced me to slow down and recuperate, which it has of late.
I believe the book went under a different title originally, Girl in the Photograph. Either way, it's two stories several decades apart, in the same setting. In the latter tale (1933) Alice has gotten herself "in the family way" without benefit of a husband, and is shuttled off to an estate in the country where a friend of her mother's works as housekeeper, until the birth of the baby. But while there, she becomes fascinated by a former mistress of the estate, Lady Elizabeth Stanton, and the mysteries that surround her life and disappearance.
The stories are well told, and do intertwine to some degree. There is also an interesting running theme exploring postpartum depression and how it was handled at the end of the Victorian era into the early Edwardian era.
Tags: i-liked-it, made-me-look-something-up, read, read-in-2015, taught-me-something
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leave many readers today, accustomed to fast pace and fast living in their books get twitchy and stop reading. The kind where the setting, usually an English manor house, or lonely house on the cliffs/moors/highlands, or a rose twined cottage in a sleepy hamlet, is as much a character as the people in the tale are. the kind where dark secrets are hinted at, maybe a mysterious death or two.I like that kind of book, occasionally, especially when life has forced me to slow down and recuperate, which it has of late.
I believe the book went under a different title originally, Girl in the Photograph. Either way, it's two stories several decades apart, in the same setting. In the latter tale (1933) Alice has gotten herself "in the family way" without benefit of a husband, and is shuttled off to an estate in the country where a friend of her mother's works as housekeeper, until the birth of the baby. But while there, she becomes fascinated by a former mistress of the estate, Lady Elizabeth Stanton, and the mysteries that surround her life and disappearance.
The stories are well told, and do intertwine to some degree. There is also an interesting running theme exploring postpartum depression and how it was handled at the end of the Victorian era into the early Edwardian era.
Tags: i-liked-it, made-me-look-something-up, read, read-in-2015, taught-me-something
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LibraryThing member Beamis12
3.5 An old manor house, a hidden journal, a summer house with a secret room, a glass house falling apart and a 40 year old mystery. These are the things that Alice finds when she is sent to Fiercombe manor in 1933. Sent by her mother after a one night sexual relationship , leaves her pregnant.
Love
A good, entertaining novel, perfect for the dark days of winter.
ARC from publisher.
Love
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the gothic tone of this novel, the slowness of the story and the secrets and the way they are revealed. What did happen to Elizabeth Stanton and her daughter Isabelle? In alternate voices, we hear from Elizabeth, her pregnancies ending in sadness, her faltering relationship with her husband, Edward, her deepest fears and terrible memories. We watch as Alice attempts to piece together all the things she uncovers along with the many things she senses. A good, entertaining novel, perfect for the dark days of winter.
ARC from publisher.
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LibraryThing member EllenH
I loved this, couldn't put it down. Reminded me of Daphne Du Mauier or Kate Morton's writing.
LibraryThing member Twink
I love old houses and forgotten corners - there are so many stories to be told and remembered. Kate Riordan's latest book, Fiercombe Manor has one of those stories....
1933 England. Young (and naive) Alice Eveleigh has gotten herself into 'trouble' with a married man. Her mother calls upon an old
All the elements are there for the perfect Gothic mystery - young, curious woman, old retainers, crumbling house with closed off rooms, secrets alluded to, and clues to the past. Riordan seals the deal with a delicious piece of foreshadowing.....
"When I think back to the memory, that first glimpse of Fiercombe Manor and the valley it seemed almost entombed in, I cannot recall any sense of unease......It seems amazing in light of what happened, but I can't say I felt any foreboding about the valley at all." " I could never have imagined all that would happen in those few short months and how, by the end of them, my life would be irrevocably altered forever."
Riordan's novel is told in a past and present narrative. The past is from thirty years early and is Lady Elizabeth Stanton's story. Old letters that Alice uncovers begin to fill in the past for her, but the reader is privy to more through Elizabeth's voice. I found myself reacting more to Elizabeth's timeline, caught up in the past.
"There's an atmosphere, though, as if something of what's gone before is still here, like an echo or a reflection in a dark pool."
Cue delicious tingle.....are there ghosts? Can the past reach out to the present? Is the sad history of Fiercombe Manor going to be repeated?
Riordan's setting is wonderfully drawn - I could easily imagine the uneven stone floors, the crumbling outbuildings, the gardens and the dusty rooms. Time is also well done, with the social graces and mores of both time periods captured. Riordan also explores an issue that has a foot firmly in the present. (Sorry, I'm being deliberately oblique so as not to spoil the book for future readers)
This novel is fairly lengthy at 400+ plus pages, but I enjoyed the slow unfurling of this novel. Riordan keeps the reader in the dark until the final chapters - and only then reveals the end of Elizabeth's story. Alice's story has a fairytale ending, perfect for this tale. (I have a 'thing' for covers. I loved this one - I wanted to go exploring myself!)
Fiercombe Manor is best read in a comfy armchair within a lamp's circle of light with the wind whistling outside at night. Oh, and a pot of tea.
1933 England. Young (and naive) Alice Eveleigh has gotten herself into 'trouble' with a married man. Her mother calls upon an old
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friend to take Alice in until the baby is born. That friend, Mrs. Jelphs, is the housekeeper of a old manor in a forgotten corner of the Gloucestershire countryside. Mrs Jelphs and old gardener Ruck are the only two staff (and residents) of the Stanton estate.All the elements are there for the perfect Gothic mystery - young, curious woman, old retainers, crumbling house with closed off rooms, secrets alluded to, and clues to the past. Riordan seals the deal with a delicious piece of foreshadowing.....
"When I think back to the memory, that first glimpse of Fiercombe Manor and the valley it seemed almost entombed in, I cannot recall any sense of unease......It seems amazing in light of what happened, but I can't say I felt any foreboding about the valley at all." " I could never have imagined all that would happen in those few short months and how, by the end of them, my life would be irrevocably altered forever."
Riordan's novel is told in a past and present narrative. The past is from thirty years early and is Lady Elizabeth Stanton's story. Old letters that Alice uncovers begin to fill in the past for her, but the reader is privy to more through Elizabeth's voice. I found myself reacting more to Elizabeth's timeline, caught up in the past.
"There's an atmosphere, though, as if something of what's gone before is still here, like an echo or a reflection in a dark pool."
Cue delicious tingle.....are there ghosts? Can the past reach out to the present? Is the sad history of Fiercombe Manor going to be repeated?
Riordan's setting is wonderfully drawn - I could easily imagine the uneven stone floors, the crumbling outbuildings, the gardens and the dusty rooms. Time is also well done, with the social graces and mores of both time periods captured. Riordan also explores an issue that has a foot firmly in the present. (Sorry, I'm being deliberately oblique so as not to spoil the book for future readers)
This novel is fairly lengthy at 400+ plus pages, but I enjoyed the slow unfurling of this novel. Riordan keeps the reader in the dark until the final chapters - and only then reveals the end of Elizabeth's story. Alice's story has a fairytale ending, perfect for this tale. (I have a 'thing' for covers. I loved this one - I wanted to go exploring myself!)
Fiercombe Manor is best read in a comfy armchair within a lamp's circle of light with the wind whistling outside at night. Oh, and a pot of tea.
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LibraryThing member adpaton
The Girl in the Photograph, by Kate Riordan, Penguin
Quietly tender, this ghost story without a ghost is the evocative tale of Fiercombe Manor, haunted by past secrets and tragedies – but it’s also a period study gilded by romance.
Riordan uses a dual narrative technique with two timeframes:
The diarist is the ill-fated Elizabeth Stanton, lady of the manor in the late 1890s, and the other half of the narrative. Elizabeth’s fate is a mystery Alice is determined to solve – especially after she finds a photograph of the doomed beauty.
It is only at the end of the book that the languid pace increases and the air of melancholy turns to one of urgency: despite themes of post-natal depression and early death, the book has a satisfyingly upbeat ending. **** Aubrey Paton
Quietly tender, this ghost story without a ghost is the evocative tale of Fiercombe Manor, haunted by past secrets and tragedies – but it’s also a period study gilded by romance.
Riordan uses a dual narrative technique with two timeframes:
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Alice Eveleigh, a 22-year-old unwed mother, has been sent to hide her shame in the remote Fiercombe valley. It is 1932 and the disgraced Alice is waiting out her pregnancy under the eye of an elderly housekeeper when she discovers an old diary. The diarist is the ill-fated Elizabeth Stanton, lady of the manor in the late 1890s, and the other half of the narrative. Elizabeth’s fate is a mystery Alice is determined to solve – especially after she finds a photograph of the doomed beauty.
It is only at the end of the book that the languid pace increases and the air of melancholy turns to one of urgency: despite themes of post-natal depression and early death, the book has a satisfyingly upbeat ending. **** Aubrey Paton
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LibraryThing member marysneedle
I forgot how much I love these types of stories. It has the irresistible pull of the past echoing in the present. The old English houses that have stood for centuries with all their secrets. I simple love the way the author intertwined the past with the present and tied it all together. I cold
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hardly put this book down. Show Less
LibraryThing member Mishker
After a brief affair with a married man at her office, twenty-two year old and unmarried Alice finds herself pregnant. Her mother decides to ship Alice off to rural Gloucestershire to have her confinement at Fiercombe Manor where an old friend, Edith Jelphs, works as the housekeeper. With a made up
With a haunting and elegant prose, the mysteries of Fiercombe Manor slowly unfold. I enjoyed the switching points of view between Alice in 1932 and Elizabeth and 1898 and the parallel stories added to the suspense of the mystery and provided a pretty good pace; I did feel a little bit of a drag in the middle, but it picked back up. While both women’s characters captured me, I felt more invested in Elizabeth’s story, especially once Alice is set on discovering what happened in the past with another woman who was pregnant at the manor. Alice’s spirit and the hint of a romance lured me into her story. Most of all, I was interested in the overall treatment of women, the treatment of post-partum depression and their pregnancies during the two time periods, the factors that draw Alice and Elizabeth’s stories together. Overall, Fiercombe Manor is a highly atmospheric historical mystery with a bit of romance.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.
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story of a dead husband, Alice is welcomed to Fiercombe and glad to be out of the watchful eye of her mother. As Alice becomes settled at the manor, she notices a few strange occurrences and slowly learns the tragic history of the manor and its absent owners. With a haunting and elegant prose, the mysteries of Fiercombe Manor slowly unfold. I enjoyed the switching points of view between Alice in 1932 and Elizabeth and 1898 and the parallel stories added to the suspense of the mystery and provided a pretty good pace; I did feel a little bit of a drag in the middle, but it picked back up. While both women’s characters captured me, I felt more invested in Elizabeth’s story, especially once Alice is set on discovering what happened in the past with another woman who was pregnant at the manor. Alice’s spirit and the hint of a romance lured me into her story. Most of all, I was interested in the overall treatment of women, the treatment of post-partum depression and their pregnancies during the two time periods, the factors that draw Alice and Elizabeth’s stories together. Overall, Fiercombe Manor is a highly atmospheric historical mystery with a bit of romance.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.
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LibraryThing member scot2
I enjoyed this Gothic story. I found the modern romance part rather hard to believe but it is a story where belief can be suspended. I loved the historical part of the story and I wanted to unravel that mystery. I did think there may be some mystery surrounding Alice herself, but there was not. All
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in all, a good read. Show Less
LibraryThing member shizz
The Girl in the Photograph - Kate Riordan
I wish I hadn’t read this book, I really do. Because if I hadn’t I would still have it here waiting for me to begin and become enveloped in its poignant tale of two intertwined lives.
I’m seldom an admirer of ‘book blurb’ and when I read that this
When Alice first arrives at Fiercombe Manor I was reminded of Daphne Du Maurier and Rebecca. It seemed, momentarily, that Mrs. Danvers was returned, incarnate, in the body of Mrs.Jelphs, appearing like a phantom at the window of Alice's room. But any comparisons slowly ebbed away as this writer claimed her own voice within this story.
All the characters are well developed and they all serve a purpose, there’s nothing wasted here, no words, no depictions are gratuitous but that doesn’t mean that this is an economic story. The descriptions are full, rich and accessible, a juxtaposition of control and flow.
The term of a pregnancy used to be refereed to as a confinement and this word is an apt, almost allegorical, description of the lives of both Alice and Elizabeth whose confinements go way beyond their pregnancies. And if we are going to extend this natal metaphor Alice must go full term to unravel the mystery and the history of Elizabeth Stanton.
Thank you, Real Readers, for this book. I loved it.
I wish I hadn’t read this book, I really do. Because if I hadn’t I would still have it here waiting for me to begin and become enveloped in its poignant tale of two intertwined lives.
I’m seldom an admirer of ‘book blurb’ and when I read that this
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story was for fans of Kate Atkinson and Kate Morton, both of whom I love, I was ready to deride the comparison. I had read The Birdcage, Kate Riordan’s first novel, a good historical novel but not up there with the Misses Atkinson and Morton. But, oh boy, how right the blurbers are!! More Morton than Atkinson but this just sucks you into the vortex of its narrative and you don't want to leave until you’ve unravelled the stories of these two women. The atmosphere created is palpable.When Alice first arrives at Fiercombe Manor I was reminded of Daphne Du Maurier and Rebecca. It seemed, momentarily, that Mrs. Danvers was returned, incarnate, in the body of Mrs.Jelphs, appearing like a phantom at the window of Alice's room. But any comparisons slowly ebbed away as this writer claimed her own voice within this story.
All the characters are well developed and they all serve a purpose, there’s nothing wasted here, no words, no depictions are gratuitous but that doesn’t mean that this is an economic story. The descriptions are full, rich and accessible, a juxtaposition of control and flow.
The term of a pregnancy used to be refereed to as a confinement and this word is an apt, almost allegorical, description of the lives of both Alice and Elizabeth whose confinements go way beyond their pregnancies. And if we are going to extend this natal metaphor Alice must go full term to unravel the mystery and the history of Elizabeth Stanton.
Thank you, Real Readers, for this book. I loved it.
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LibraryThing member john257hopper
This is a haunting novel set in the early 1930s, with flashbacks to the late 1890s. A young woman, Alice Eveleigh, falls pregnant by a married man in an era when this meant complete social stigmatisation. She is sent by her mother to a remote house in Gloucestershire, into the care of a lady, Edith
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Jelphs, whom she knew when she was younger. Mrs Jelphs is the guardian of a empty manor house in a remote valley, whose owner hardly ever visits. There Alice encounters the past in a haunting series of events that mirror those in her own life as her pregnancy advances. The author creates an atmosphere of creeping mystery and tension very well, in a style that reminds me of the creeping ghost stories of Jonathan Aycliffe, though I am not sure the final resolution entirely delivered on the sense of foreboding that had grown up, tragic enough though it was. A great read though. Show Less
LibraryThing member theeccentriclady
I Read this during a busy time so I could only get 1 or 2 chapters in at each setting and I think that took away from my total enjoyment of the book. The story moves fairly quickly and I think the suspense and mystery would have felt more pronounced if I had read more at each sitting. I felt Ms.
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Riordan did a great job of giving us a visual feel for the homes and surrounding area. It played out in my head as a movie. That is always a plus for me. Great read for October! Show Less
LibraryThing member theeccentriclady
I Read this during a busy time so I could only get 1 or 2 chapters in at each setting and I think that took away from my total enjoyment of the book. The story moves fairly quickly and I think the suspense and mystery would have felt more pronounced if I had read more at each sitting. I felt Ms.
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Riordan did a great job of giving us a visual feel for the homes and surrounding area. It played out in my head as a movie. That is always a plus for me. Great read for October! Show Less
LibraryThing member Carol420
It's 1933 and we meet Alice for the first time. Pregnant, unmarried, and disgraced, she has been exiled to the rural Fiercombe Manor by her furious mother. Alice soon learns that all is not as serene as it seems and that she's not the first young woman to meet a tragic fate here...there is also
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Elizabeth whose story is 30 years into the past. How many more is anyone's guess. I found [Fiercombe Manor] to be a very pleasant surprise. It's an easy read and follows the lives of both Alice and Elizabeth by alternating chapters. It's not exactly a ghost story but ti diffidently has a brooding atmosphere. I gave it 5 stars for being well written with well developed characters a good mystery and the fact that I just liked the feel of the book. Show Less
LibraryThing member smik
This novel, Riordan's debut title, is mystery rather crime fiction.
The novel is the story of two women, separated by nearly four decades of time. Alice Eveleigh has come to Fiercombe Manor to hide a pregnancy, while Elizabeth Stanton was desperate to to produce a son for her mercurial husband.
Alice
The story is told through their two voices.
There is a very Gothic feel to the novel, and the story was well told.
I'm sure I will be looking for another by this author.
The novel is the story of two women, separated by nearly four decades of time. Alice Eveleigh has come to Fiercombe Manor to hide a pregnancy, while Elizabeth Stanton was desperate to to produce a son for her mercurial husband.
Alice
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has seen a photograph of Elizabeth and is consumed by a desire to know what eventually happened to her. The housekeeper at the manor knows the full story but everytime Alice asks Mrs Jelphs clams up.The story is told through their two voices.
There is a very Gothic feel to the novel, and the story was well told.
I'm sure I will be looking for another by this author.
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LibraryThing member standhenry
Fiercombe Manor is a first-person narrative that follows the emotions and experiences of Alice, a London girl who falls for the wrong man. She is sent to live in the country at an old estate shrouded in a troubled history. The story reminded me of reading older classics such as Jane Eyre. The
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action is whisper soft that creeps up on you with intense suspense near the end. This quote neatly sums up a theme in the book: "...and both of us entrapped by those supposedly closest to us, unable to direct our own destinies." This book was published in the UK as The Girl in the Photograph. Show Less
LibraryThing member reader1009
historical fiction (1890s/1930s English manor a la Downton abbey with a lot fewer characters to track) with ghosts/mystery, tragedy, and a little romance. This was a pretty decent read, but I just felt like I didn't have the time for it/wasn't in the mood for it, so I skipped from page 89 or so to
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the end to see it I would miss anything (not that much--or possibly, everything, it's hard to know). If you want to immerse yourself in the setting however, go for it--the writing style is fine and the characters are moderately interesting. Show Less
LibraryThing member nordie
The Girl in the Photograph is a haunting and atmospheric novel that tells the tales of women in two different eras – the 1890’s and 1930’s – and how their lives seem to be entwined by fate. Kate Riordan’s novel is a beautifully dark and beguiling tale which will sweep you away. It will
In the summer of 1933, Alice Eveleigh has arrived at Fiercombe Manor in disgrace. The beautiful house becomes her sanctuary, a place to hide her shame from society in the care of the housekeeper, Mrs Jelphs. But the manor also becomes a place of suspicion, one of secrecy.
Something isn't right. Someone is watching.
There are secrets that the manor house seems determined to keep. Tragedy haunts the empty rooms and foreboding hangs heavy in the stifling heat. Traces of the previous occupant, Elizabeth Stanton, are everywhere and soon Alice discovers Elizabeth's life eerily mirrors the path she herself is on.
Received from Netgalley in exchange for a review.
Alice has been sent to Fiercombe Manor in the summer of 1933 - whilst intelligent and working in an office, she is naive towards men, and soon finds herself seduced and pregnant by a married man who comes to the office. Edith Jelphs was a school friend of Alice's mother, but who went into service to Elizabeth Stanton in the 1890s and became housekeeper later in life. Before Alice leaves London, her mother rifles through some old photographs and for a while at least, Edith is The Girl in the Photograph.
She arrives at Firecombe, to find it a much extended house of several centuries in age, sitting in the bottom of a valley, and much hidden behind huge Yew Trees. It is soon clear there are secrets and ghosts in this Manor House and Alice is spooked almost from the first day she is there. Stanton House, where the current Sir Stanton's older brother built in the 1890s, is long gone, having barely lasted a decade.
Meanwhile there is another story running parallel, that of Elizabeth Stanton, wife of Sir Edward, and who is near full term with her second child. She has already given birth to Isabel, but has had several miscarriages since. She is hoping that this child will prove to be the son she fears Edward wants. As the story progresses, we begin to find that there are reasons for Edward's seemingly peculiar behaviour, and that perhaps Elizabeth is not the most reliable narrator of what is going on around her.
As the story shifts between the two women, Alice beings to realise there is a lot of secrets and pain in recent history around the house and the valley. She finds Elizabeth's diary and reads some of the crytic entries the older women makes and has felt it necessary to hide away in the abandoned summerhouse. The heat of the summer, plus the secrets, the increasing isolation from all she knew in London, and Alice's growing attraction to Tom Stanton the heir, all adds up to a increasingly difficult pregnancy. We begin to realise that Edith is perhaps not the only Girl in the Photograph and some explainations are more unsettling than others.
Her approaching motherhood makes Alice reflect on her relationship with her own mother, and the fact that she will have to give the baby away after the birth. As the book comes to its conclusion Alice's life seems to be reflecting that of Elizabeth and Alice's mother more closely than she could have imagined or feared.
This is certainly an atmospheric book, with the whole isolated valley apparently full of ghosts. A shame that it is published in January as I think it would have been suited better for the autumn market!
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appeal to fans of Kate Morton and Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca.In the summer of 1933, Alice Eveleigh has arrived at Fiercombe Manor in disgrace. The beautiful house becomes her sanctuary, a place to hide her shame from society in the care of the housekeeper, Mrs Jelphs. But the manor also becomes a place of suspicion, one of secrecy.
Something isn't right. Someone is watching.
There are secrets that the manor house seems determined to keep. Tragedy haunts the empty rooms and foreboding hangs heavy in the stifling heat. Traces of the previous occupant, Elizabeth Stanton, are everywhere and soon Alice discovers Elizabeth's life eerily mirrors the path she herself is on.
Received from Netgalley in exchange for a review.
Alice has been sent to Fiercombe Manor in the summer of 1933 - whilst intelligent and working in an office, she is naive towards men, and soon finds herself seduced and pregnant by a married man who comes to the office. Edith Jelphs was a school friend of Alice's mother, but who went into service to Elizabeth Stanton in the 1890s and became housekeeper later in life. Before Alice leaves London, her mother rifles through some old photographs and for a while at least, Edith is The Girl in the Photograph.
She arrives at Firecombe, to find it a much extended house of several centuries in age, sitting in the bottom of a valley, and much hidden behind huge Yew Trees. It is soon clear there are secrets and ghosts in this Manor House and Alice is spooked almost from the first day she is there. Stanton House, where the current Sir Stanton's older brother built in the 1890s, is long gone, having barely lasted a decade.
Meanwhile there is another story running parallel, that of Elizabeth Stanton, wife of Sir Edward, and who is near full term with her second child. She has already given birth to Isabel, but has had several miscarriages since. She is hoping that this child will prove to be the son she fears Edward wants. As the story progresses, we begin to find that there are reasons for Edward's seemingly peculiar behaviour, and that perhaps Elizabeth is not the most reliable narrator of what is going on around her.
As the story shifts between the two women, Alice beings to realise there is a lot of secrets and pain in recent history around the house and the valley. She finds Elizabeth's diary and reads some of the crytic entries the older women makes and has felt it necessary to hide away in the abandoned summerhouse. The heat of the summer, plus the secrets, the increasing isolation from all she knew in London, and Alice's growing attraction to Tom Stanton the heir, all adds up to a increasingly difficult pregnancy. We begin to realise that Edith is perhaps not the only Girl in the Photograph and some explainations are more unsettling than others.
Her approaching motherhood makes Alice reflect on her relationship with her own mother, and the fact that she will have to give the baby away after the birth. As the book comes to its conclusion Alice's life seems to be reflecting that of Elizabeth and Alice's mother more closely than she could have imagined or feared.
This is certainly an atmospheric book, with the whole isolated valley apparently full of ghosts. A shame that it is published in January as I think it would have been suited better for the autumn market!
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Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2014
Physical description
544 p.; 18.8 cm
ISBN
9783453417991