Source: Vine
Something
isn't right in this house.
Lucy
Acosta's mother died when she was three. Growing up in a Victorian mansion in
the middle of the woods with her cold, distant father, she and her best friend
and cousin, Margaret, know the ancient hallways inside out. Or so
they think . . .
When her
beloved Aunt Penelope disappears while walking in the surrounding
woods, Lucy finds herself devastated and alone. Margaret, meanwhile, has
been spending a LOT of time in the attic. She claims she can hear her
mother's voice whispering from the walls.
Shut out by
her father, Lucy watches helplessly as her cousin's sanity slowly and completely unravels.
And then she begins hearing voices herself . . .
“Walter the cook killed himself in his little
bedroom in his little bedroom downstairs, just a few hours after saying
goodnight.”
From the first sentence, there was no doubt this
was going to be an unforgettable and original novel. The multiple deaths and
disappearances at the Acosta manor are shrouded in mystery. Nothing is ever
explained to the two young women who live there, cousins Margaret and Lucy.
Lucy, the protagonist, however, knows that there are twisted secrets in the
history of the manor and the women in her family – the two are intertwined. Yet
the one remaining adult in their lives, her father, is dismissive of Lucy’s
concerns, instead obsessed with impressing the local country club. As a result,
Margaret and Lucy engage in disturbing behaviors. Lucy becomes self-destructive
and Margaret starts hearing voices in the walls of the manor. Something is
seriously wrong.
Of course, the title immediately invoked “The
Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman -
that feminist classic short story of a woman whose mental health
deteriorates until she becomes convinced that there are women imprisoned within
the wallpaper of her room. Like that
short story, unhealthy family dynamics lead to the Margaret and Lucy’s own
deterioration.
I had multiple theories as to what was really going
on. The father and his sinister club - patriarchy leading to the Acosta women
dying or disappearing one by one.
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