Publication Date: February 9, 2016
Source: Vine
Ghosts are everywhere, not just the ghost of Momma
in the woods, but ghosts of us too, what we used to be like in those long
summers . . .
Amber Alton knows that the hours pass differently
at Black Rabbit Hall, her London family’s country estate, where no two clocks
read the same. Summers there are perfect, timeless. Not much ever happens.
Until, of course, it does.
More than three decades later, Lorna is determined
to be married within the grand, ivy-covered walls of Pencraw Hall, known as
Black Rabbit Hall among the locals. But as she’s drawn deeper into the
overgrown grounds, half-buried memories of her mother begin to surface and
Lorna soon finds herself ensnared within the manor’s labyrinthine history,
overcome with an insatiable need for answers about her own past and that of the
once-happy family whose memory still haunts the estate.
Stunning and atmospheric, this debut novel is a
thrilling spiral into the hearts of two women separated by decades but
inescapably linked by the dark and tangled secrets of Black Rabbit Hall.
I’ve pulled all-nighters before when I simply could
not put down a good book. But this is a first: After an hour of reading Black
Rabbit Hall, I succumbed to weariness, only to wake up a couple hours later, at
1:00 a.m., fighting up from the depths of a good sleep because I was compelled
to continue its mesmerizing story.
Black Rabbit Hall cast its spell on me as it begins
with the Altons’ idyllic holiday in their country house. Nancy, the beautiful
young mother of the Alton children is the beloved heart of this affectionate family.
There are the twins, Toby and Amber, then Kitty, and Barney, the baby – all of
whom run wild, having adventures in the estate. It is a magical life – until
tragedy strikes and their close-knit family begins to unravel.
In stark contrast to its glorious heyday, Black
Rabbit Hall is depicted in the present as run-down and haunted by ghosts of the
past. Lorna, who remembers visiting Black Rabbit Hall as a child, is determined
to have her wedding there, despite its almost ruinous state. Her interest in
Black Rabbit Hall verges on obsession as she begins to wonder what happened to
the family who once lived there.
I have to say – I thought for sure I knew what the
story was building up to, only to be undone by one heartbreaking revelation
after another. The fates of the Altons left me reeling. I could not stop
thinking about them, even after turning the last page.
Black Rabbit Hall is a stunning debut!
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