The Secrets Of Hartwood Hall by Katie Lumsden

The Secrets of Hartwood Hall by Katie Kumsden.

Published 30th March 2023 by Michael Joseph.

From the cover of the book:

1852.

Margaret Lennox is offered a position as governess at Hartwood Hall. She quickly accepts, hoping this isolated country house will allow her to leave her past behind.

But Margaret soon starts to feel there's something odd about her new home, despite her growing fondness for her bright, affectionate pupil, Louis.

Strange figures move through the dark.

Tensions rise between the servants.

The east wing sits eerily abandoned . . .

Even stranger is the local gossip surrounding Mrs Eversham, Louis's widowed mother, who is deeply distrusted by the nearby village.

Margaret is certain that everyone has something to hide.

But as her own past threatens to catch up with her, she must learn to trust her instincts before it's too late . . .

***********

1852. Newly widowed Margaret Lennox is offered the position of governess at remote Hartwood Hall, which she accepts gladly in the hope that it will banish the memories of her unhappy marriage.

Margaret takes to her ten-year-old-charge Louis at once, sensing that by teaching this lonely little boy she can heal her own pain, but it is not long before she is aware that things at Hartwood Hall are not quite right. The locals are deeply suspicious of Louis' widowed mother Mrs Eversham, who seems weighed down by worries she cannot share, and rumours are rife about goings on at the Hall where there is an unusually small number of staff. 

Talk of ghosts and unexplained disappearances have Margaret jumping at shadows, and she is unnerved by the bumps in the night coming from the closed off east wing of the house where she has been told she must not venture. However, despite her misgiving she feels that this is a place where she could be happy, especially when she finds herself developing feelings for the young gardener Paul who stirs within her emotions she never thought she would feel.

But Margaret's past cannot remain hidden for long from the prying eyes of someone at the Hall who delights in trading in secrets... someone whose ambition spells disaster for all at Hartwood Hall.

With lashings of Gothic loveliness, Katie Lumsden takes her passion for the classics and spins a tale of secrets, misplaced guilt, forbidden love, and betrayal that holds you fast from beginning to end. Hartwood Hall has all the dark and creepy vibes you could ever want in a setting, and Lumsden knows how to make the most of its environs to enhance the atmosphere of something supernatural lurking within its walls and gardens, with shadows that dance at the edge of your consciousness in twilight and guttering candle light. 

Lumsden channels her obvious love of the Brontës, especially Jane Eyre in her choice of characters and backdrop, adding in a sprinkle of Sarah Waters, and an unexpected touch of Lady Chatterley's Lover. The relationships between the female characters are complicated, with women brought low by patriarchal Victorian society, and Lumsden's themes are rife with male control and women who long to be free to decide their own fate. But intriguingly she does not confine her antagonists to the male persuasion, and not all her male characters are of the dastardly sort, which really adds complexity to the whole.

The threads of the individual stories of these women are shaded in mystery and Lumsden drops her reveals slowly over the course of the book with suspenseful aplomb, so we only come to know the shocking truth at the conclusion - and it is a truth I did not see coming, which was hugely enjoyable. There is great poignancy in the way the women we come to know find strength and healing in each other, overcoming the terrible misfortunes that have shaped them in an ending that makes your heart soar. 

This is an impressive debut, that serves as a love letter to the Victorian novel, with oodles of atmosphere and many layered characters. I consumed this book in a single sitting, unable to tear myself away until the bitter-sweet end that works perfectly with Lumsden's Jane Eyre-esque feminist themes. I adored it, and cannot wait for whatever comes next from Katie Lumsden.

The Secrets of Hartwood Hall is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Michael Joseph for sending me a proof of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

Katie Lumsden read Jane Eyre at the age of thirteen and never looked back. She spent her teenage years devouring nineteenth century literature, reading every Dickens, Brontë, Gaskell, Austen and Hardy novel she could find. 

She has a degree in English literature and history from the University of Durham and an MA in creative writing from Bath Spa University. Her short stories have been shortlisted for the London Short Story Prize and the Bridport Prize, and have been published in various literary magazines. Katie's Youtube channel, Books and Things, has more than 23,000 subscribers. 

She lives in London and works in publishing.