The House at Helygen by Victoria Hawthorne

 

The House at Helygen by Victoria Hawthorne.

Published 18th August 2022 by Quercus.

From the cover of the book:

A HOUSE CAN HOLD A THOUSAND SECRETS . . .

2019: When Henry Fox is found dead in his ancestral home in Cornwall, the police rule it a suicide, but his pregnant wife, Josie, believes it was murder. Desperate to make sense of Henry's death she embarks on a quest to learn the truth, all under the watchful eyes of Henry's overbearing mother. Josie soon finds herself wrestling against the dark history of Helygen House and ghosts from the past that refuse to stay buried.

1881: New bride Eliza arrives at Helygen House with high hopes for her marriage. Yet when she meets her new mother-in-law, an icy and forbidding woman, her dreams of a new life are dashed. And when Eliza starts to hear voices in the walls of the house, she begins to fear for her sanity and her life.

Can Josie piece together the past to make sense of her present, or will the secrets of Helygen House and its inhabitants forever remain a mystery?

***********

2019: Josie and Henry Fox have big plans to save Henry's rambling, ancestral home, Helygen House in Cornwell. They are committed to making this a family home for themselves and the child Josie is carrying, and turning the estate into a going concern - even if Henry's stern mother Alice disapproves of all the changes they have planned to the house and grounds she see as her home.

When Henry is found dead in the house, apparently after committing suicide, Josie is convinced that it was murder, but who would want to kill Henry? Josie is determined to find out the truth, but this is proving difficult with overwhelming grief, a new born to look after, and a mother-in-law that she is not sure has her and her daughter's best interests at heart. As Josie digs into the dark past of Helygen House, she finds herself jumping at shadows, and fearing that there really is something wrong with this place.

1881: Eliza Fox arrives at Helygen House with her new husband Cassius, full of hopes about their married life together, but her mother-in-law Harriet is far from welcoming towards her and her new husband is not quite the man she thought he was. The atmosphere in this house is strange, and Eliza gets the feeling that there are secrets she has not been told about her new home - secrets that threaten not only her sanity, but her life.

The story is told in two timelines that flip back and forth between the present and the past, in true timeslip style, but rather than just sticking with the narratives of our two brides Josie and Eliza as they navigate their way through the sinister pitfalls of Helygen House, Hawthorne also throws in a nice little curve ball by bringing in the voice of Harriet too. This proves to be very clever story telling as it not only weaves mystery through the parts of the story told through Josie and Eliza as they uncover some uncomfortable truths about the lives they find themselves living, but also allows us a fascinating glimpse of the one person that dictates how their fates play out - Cassius. 

There are family secrets galore here as you gradually put together all the little pieces of the twisty parallel mysteries in both time lines, building suspense notch by notch, until all the skeletons come tumbling out of their respective hiding places in two cracking climaxes, that bring everything together in a way that has dangerous consequences for Josie. There are lovely echoes that reverberate through time too, especially in terms of seriously creepy mother-in-laws, and motherhood, and Hawthorne plays up the underlying Gothic atmosphere of voices from beyond the grave scarily well.

I gobbled this one down in one sitting, and really enjoyed how Hawthorne threads the theme of women's rights subtly throughout the story. She also delivers with deliciously satisfying endings in both timelines, which I applaud. There is a lot here that reminded me of the way Stacey Halls captures your imagination, gives you a good dose of an unsettling drama, and urges you to take a good hard look at the injustices that face her female characters, so if you are a fan of Hall's writing then you will find a lot here to enjoy. Haunting, and highly recommended for some historical fiction chills.

The House at Helygen is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.

About the author:

Victoria Hawthorne is a pseudonym of bestselling psychological suspense author Vikki Patis. She writes atmospheric historical suspense rich with familial secrets and strong female protagonists. THE HOUSE AT HELYGEN was published in April 2022 by Quercus, with another to follow in 2023.