Saturday 29 December 2012

Book Review - Beware Spoilers

Property of a Lady by Sarah Rayne

As I've mentioned before this author has been one of my favourite discoveries of late and as I'm on holiday for a couple of weeks I quickly got my head stuck into one of her books and again couldn't stop until I'd finished it!!  As soon as I started reading this I kept thinking this is really the quality of a Henry James (?), Women in Black or other similar ghost story and that is what this book is a really brilliant ghost story.

A proper ghost story with an old house, hidden pages from diaries in old abandoned furniture, similar events which span over 150 years - missing children and young widows all connected to the mysterious house.  An American couple inherit an old derelict house and ask a friend from Oxford to keep an eye on the renovations.  A young widow and her daughter are putting their lives back together and through her antiques business is finding the original furniture from the house to return to the house. 

It is through the connection to the house that Michael, the Oxford Don and Nell the antiques dealer meet and experience a variety of phenomena related to the house.  Is it the mysterious owner who disappeared William Lee, could it be connected to a previous owner who also disappeared, or the psychic investigator called in to check the place out in the 1960's.  This book has all that is required of a traditional ghost story, from the local folk legends, old pubs and cellars to the budding romance between the two main characters. 

This was a really great read and I've just found out the first in a series of books with these characters so am now off to download the next one!!



Ciao

Sue

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