When Ailsa Calder’s mother dies she inherits half a house in the Scottish Highlands; the other half belongs to her father, a man who had disappeared without trace twenty-seven years earlier. When she makes enquiries about selling The Manse she discovers that she cannot do so before applying to the Scottish Courts for a “Presumption of Death”, an order which would allow for transfer of ownership to her. With no wish to permanently settle in the home she and her mother left when she was seven years old, she reluctantly leaves London to settle her mother’s estate. She’s accompanied by Carrie, the much younger half-sister she’s never taken the time to get to know, partly because college, and then her career took their respective lives in different directions. Carrie is an actress whose latest role is in a play at a theatre in Edinburgh so both sisters hope that by spending time together as they mourn their mother’s death they will be able to forge a closer bond.
When Ailsa see the house again for the fist time since childhood she is struck not just by how large and forbidding its three storeyed, turreted “grand baronial style” is, but how it seems that it is always watching her. The sense of claustrophobia she feels is almost overwhelming and, when she encounters the first night-time intruder, she feels there is a malign presence which threatens not only her peace of mind, but possibly even her life. These feeling increase incrementally when she discovers how animals avoid setting foot in the garden, when time itself appears to be warped, when she begins to realise that local people seem to know more about the house, and her missing father, than she does. As her buried memories of the early years she spent in the house slowly emerge into consciousness, albeit initially in a random and rather indistinct way, she is increasingly able to start to piece together some of her family history.
I found this a highly atmospheric story and very quickly found myself immersed not only in Ailsa’s search for the truth, but also in her increasing fears about the strange events which were occurring in the house. The author created an evocatively dark, creepy and spooky atmosphere, so much so that there were moments when I felt I should be checking that all my doors and windows were securely locked! The “modern-gothic” nature of the story-telling was very effectively maintained throughout and I thought that the author managed the rather slow, but nevertheless relentless, build up of tension in a very impressive way, gradually adding the small snippets of information which would eventually build to create a credible explanation for all the strange occurrences . Each of her characters was well-drawn and even when some initially appeared to be minor players in the drama, the gradually revealed secrets showed that they played a much more significant role in the development of the story. The one “character” which never felt minor was The Manse and its central presence in the story added to the sense of imminent threat which permeated the storytelling. I found it satisfying that the plotting contained enough red-herrings, and twists to keep me guessing about the outcome until quite close to the end!
I was particularly impressed with the way in which the author captured Ailsa’s desperate need to discover why her father disappeared so suddenly when she was such a young child. She did this by introducing each chapter of the book with Ailsa’s different fantasies about how, and where, he might have spent the intervening years – the imagined scenarios were impressively creative, adding a credible dimension to Ailsa’s need to understand his desertion of her.
I loved how the author so evocatively captured not only the nature of the Scottish Highlands, but also the claustrophobic atmosphere of small, isolated communities, with inhabitants who carry the secrets of the past and use these as powerful “weapons” to intimidate and control.
Last year I had enjoyed the author’s debut novel, “The French Girl” and wondered whether her second novel would prove as engaging – I was pleased to discover that it did! Although very different, some of the themes the two books have in common are the slow, well-controlled build-up to the denouement, excellent characterisations and the presence of an “other-worldly”, rather spooky aspect to the story telling. It will be interesting to see whether her future novels follow a similar format – I look forward to finding out!
When Ailsa see the house again for the fist time since childhood she is struck not just by how large and forbidding its three storeyed, turreted “grand baronial style” is, but how it seems that it is always watching her. The sense of claustrophobia she feels is almost overwhelming and, when she encounters the first night-time intruder, she feels there is a malign presence which threatens not only her peace of mind, but possibly even her life. These feeling increase incrementally when she discovers how animals avoid setting foot in the garden, when time itself appears to be warped, when she begins to realise that local people seem to know more about the house, and her missing father, than she does. As her buried memories of the early years she spent in the house slowly emerge into consciousness, albeit initially in a random and rather indistinct way, she is increasingly able to start to piece together some of her family history.
I found this a highly atmospheric story and very quickly found myself immersed not only in Ailsa’s search for the truth, but also in her increasing fears about the strange events which were occurring in the house. The author created an evocatively dark, creepy and spooky atmosphere, so much so that there were moments when I felt I should be checking that all my doors and windows were securely locked! The “modern-gothic” nature of the story-telling was very effectively maintained throughout and I thought that the author managed the rather slow, but nevertheless relentless, build up of tension in a very impressive way, gradually adding the small snippets of information which would eventually build to create a credible explanation for all the strange occurrences . Each of her characters was well-drawn and even when some initially appeared to be minor players in the drama, the gradually revealed secrets showed that they played a much more significant role in the development of the story. The one “character” which never felt minor was The Manse and its central presence in the story added to the sense of imminent threat which permeated the storytelling. I found it satisfying that the plotting contained enough red-herrings, and twists to keep me guessing about the outcome until quite close to the end!
I was particularly impressed with the way in which the author captured Ailsa’s desperate need to discover why her father disappeared so suddenly when she was such a young child. She did this by introducing each chapter of the book with Ailsa’s different fantasies about how, and where, he might have spent the intervening years – the imagined scenarios were impressively creative, adding a credible dimension to Ailsa’s need to understand his desertion of her.
I loved how the author so evocatively captured not only the nature of the Scottish Highlands, but also the claustrophobic atmosphere of small, isolated communities, with inhabitants who carry the secrets of the past and use these as powerful “weapons” to intimidate and control.
Last year I had enjoyed the author’s debut novel, “The French Girl” and wondered whether her second novel would prove as engaging – I was pleased to discover that it did! Although very different, some of the themes the two books have in common are the slow, well-controlled build-up to the denouement, excellent characterisations and the presence of an “other-worldly”, rather spooky aspect to the story telling. It will be interesting to see whether her future novels follow a similar format – I look forward to finding out!