| Title | : | Abigale Hall |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1510717269 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781510717268 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 366 |
| Publication | : | First published February 29, 2016 |
Perfect for readers who hunger for the strange, Abigale Hall is an atmospheric debut novel where the threat of death looms just beyond the edge of every page. Lauren A. Forry has created a historical ghost story where the setting is as alive as the characters who inhabit it and a resonant family drama of trust, loyalty, and salvation.
Abigale Hall Reviews
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THE GHOST OF SPOOKTOBER PAAAAST!!!
i celebrated spooktober the way one ought to - with tiny candies and scary books, casting a wide net over the sea of horror and horror-adjacent genres to best diversify my frights.
i ended up reading about
carnivorous spiders,
demonic possession,
halloween-themed short stories, lovecraftian riffs
1 and
2,
killer mermaids,
psych suspense with a twist,
people’s fears illustrated,
mad max cannibals,
high-concept metaphysical horror,
sentient animals bearing arms,
a book about horror books,
and a vampire bunny.
and this.
this was meant to be my gothic horror read - a victorian ghost story where the horror was more suggested than overt, with half-glimpsed spirits and flickering candles instead of blood and corpses all over the place.
this book was having none of that.
first of all, it is set in 1947, so there ain’t nothing victorian about it. nor is it written in the swollen-but-restrained dumaurier tone i was anticipating. there’s some drawn-out suspense, but when it wants to bite, it doesn’t hold back. don’t get me wrong - there are no complaints from me for being a much more violent and bloody book than its cartoon-house cover led me to expect:
but it was most certainly a surprise.
there’s some excellent writing here, and most of it has nothing to do with the ooooOOOooo horror parts, but in the historical elements. the struggles of daily life in this postwar climate are so perfectly captured, distilled and seeping into even the smallest details of every scene. late-40’s london is really a perfect setting for a horror novel - a city physically torn apart by bombs, a populace still reeling from two massive wars, not knowing if a third one is about to erupt (spoiler alert - it does not), battered and braced for the inevitable, mourning their dead, families displaced, adjusting to shortages and rations and everything all seeming - having been proven to be - temporary, so easily destroyed. it’s the perfect place for nihilism, madness, and the indulging of base impulses to brew like tea - after all - what’s two or three more missing people after so much carnage? after the soldiers and the camps and the postwar suicides and the suffering?
it’s wonderfully vivid and bleak and horrible and that’s all before the real evil starts strutting its stuff, which doesn’t even happen in london, but in a giant spooky house in wales, where two orphaned sisters are sent - sold off by their selfish aunt to work as domestics, which experience will bring out the best and the worst in them. and while eliza and rebecca are living out this gothic horror-on-steroids storyline, eliza’s beau peter searches for clues to her whereabouts all over london, fleshing out the other half of the novel with a gritty urban mystery plotline that - AGAIN - the cover of this book seems to know nothing about.
it’s a bizarre book, but not a bad one. it’s just hard to pin down. it does do the formulaic gothic thing for a long time, all cruel spinster/ghost of murdered woman/missing girls/gruff groundsmen, but it’s also crime fiction and ptsd and exploitation and mental illness and the manifestation of evil in many different guises.
and it gets completely bananas at the end.
cray. zee. town.
**************************************
i have only read this one time, goodreads - what are you playing at?
first and only review to come.
come to my blog! -
Elizabeth and Rebecca are living with their aunt after World War II when she sends them off to live in Wales at a large manor whose housekeeper has been looking for someone to hire to help her with the house. The house is old and the owner is sick and rarely seen around, the cold housekeeper Mrs.Pollard seems to run everything and know everything. There are rumors of other girls that have been hired disappearing. The writing was good and I couldn't stop reading until I got to the end of the book. I got so anxious waiting to see what would happen. I just didn't like the way the ending played out, the story was building so well but then everything seemed to spiral out of control and some of the things in the end felt unnecessary because they kind of made half the plot of the book pointless I felt. I really enjoyed it though and it did keep me anxious and scared so totally recommend for anyone looking for a horror book because the only reason I didn't enjoy the ending was personal and someene else might find it perfectly fitting.
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3 stars to
Lauren A. Forry's
Abigale Hall, a mystery and suspense novel I received via NetGalley and Skyhorse Publishing as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in exchange for a fair and honest review. Thank you to both for this opportunity, as I enjoyed the book and have posted a review below.
Story
Rebecca, 12, and Eliza, 17, are orphaned sisters in 1940's London shortly after the end of WWII, their mother dying from the German Blitz and their father committing suicide after several issues post-war. The girls were awarded to their Aunt Bess, who could barely afford to keep herself above water due to a gambling problem. When she can't take it anymore, Bess sells them to an elderly man in Wales who needs help around his estate. Rebecca seems to suffer from some emotional problems and needs constant supervision, while Eliza was hoping for a proposal from Peter.
Eliza could live on her own, but won't let her sister be alone; and then they are both forced to leave without any notification to any friends.
When the sisters arrive, they are taken to Mrs. Pollard who runs the estate; however, both girls quickly learn they will be mistreated far worse than they had been by their Aunt Bess. Eliza begins to hear stories about several missing girls over the last 30 years -- who once worked at the estate -- but vanished under mysterious circumstances. As Eliza looks out for Rebecca, Rebecca begins to grow more sick and is eventually taken away by Mrs. Pollard to the hospital to get better. Eliza finally meets the master, Mr. Brownewell, who comes from a long line of very peculiar men; however, he seems to carry his own tarnish, as the townspeople suspect he killed his fiancee nearly 30 years ago when he thought she was looking at another man in the wrong way.
Eliza tries to keep things status quo as she searches for the answers, but soon discovers she cannot trust anyone. Eliza also begins to hear and see the ghost of Victoria, Mr. Brownewell's late fiancee, roaming the halls, claiming to have stolen all the missing girls. Meanwhile, Peter realizes that Eliza has been kidnapped and tries to find her, but many people -- all caught up in the macabre game being played -- stand in his way, nearly killing him a few times. When he finally finds Eliza, he steps right into a trap set by the villain behind the entire Gothic horror. But who is it? And who will survive...
Strengths
The characters are vivid and intense. And there aren't a tremendous amount of them, which certainly helps make it a good story. You've got Eliza and Rebecca who are the sisters dealing with the situation. Their Aunt Bess plays a role in the send off to Wales. Peter is chasing after Eliza. Peter's got 3 or 4 people he interacts with on his search. And in Abigale Hall, there are 3 or 4 characters who help run the estate. Plus the ghost or not-so-dead Victoria (you will have to read to find out)!
The estate, Thornecroft, is a beautiful setting but has a ruthless charm about it. Abigale Hall is one of the main rooms / areas, well described, but keeps you guessing whether it's a good or a bad place to be. The concept of ghosts is used intricately and constantly keeps readers wondering whether or not the characters are loopy or really seeing what they think they are seeing. It helps you stay focused and want to keep reading each chapter to figure it out.
Suggestions
I thought the book was a little longer than it needed to be. It wasn't repetitive, but at times it felt a little too drawn out. I assume it's to build the fear factor and the thrill of the chase; however, at times, you want to skim a few sections just to see how far the author was going to take each of the scenes. With a little more editing and focus on key word replacements, I think it could have really put the fear in a few more readers.
All of the characters were just mean. Maybe that's how it was in the 1940s after the war and in England, but I felt like I just wanted to smack several of them for the way they treated each other; and I'm not even counting the villains in the book. Even the ones who were friends or even just acquaintances felt like they had a bit of a nasty tone about them. It could be totally realistic, but it was a bit of a turn off for me.
Comparisons
At many points in the novel, I kept thinking about the direct comparison to
Daphne du Maurier's novel
Rebecca, and that's not considering both books have a main character named Rebecca. Both books have sprawling estates with a Gothic haunting ghost; Rebecca has Manderley and Abigale Hall has Plentynunig's Thornecroft. Both have a very menacing but possibly innocent caretaker. Let's see a rumble between Mrs. Pollard and Mrs. Danvers!
There are some interesting themes about shoes in this book that made me think of the Wizard of Oz witches... between Dorothy's shoes and the legs of the witch underneath the home that crashed into Oz, you can't help but see the comparison when one of the characters in Abigale Hall ends up with a head in the oven and nothing hanging out but a pair of legs.
Plus, both the sisters have trouble with their shoes the entire book. Was a little odd!
Not to mention Hansel and Gretel pushing the witch in the oven. So many re-appropriations of fairy tales could be seen.
Final Thoughts
I'm glad I read the book, and there were definitely parts full of horror the creepy factor. I was hoping for a bit more macabre, and the end certainly brings some intensity and major crazy... but it should have pushed the envelope a bit more to truly be a horror book. It's a good read, but I didn't think "wow, this is an awesome and scary book." I'd read another one by this author as the writing flowed well and created memorable characters. But give me something even more gruesome next time!
About Me
For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at
https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. Note: All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators. :) -
Abigale Hall by Lauren A. Forry is a 2016 Black & White publishing publication.
I’m always on the lookout for a modern, (recently released), pure Gothic tale, meaning all the great Gothic ‘must haves’ are present and accounted for, such as : the large manor house, the strange housekeeper, some supernatural element or grotesqueries, and the brave young lady who must fight off the forces of evil in one form or another.
This book certainly has all those elements, and the author did a fantastic job of creating that mood and atmosphere that I so love about Gothic mystery and horror.
The historical details added a nice touch, the characters were well drawn, the Welsh setting is of course the perfect location, and the heavy permeation of evil continually lingers in the air.
The narrative sags and the pacing lags on occasion, and the plot is not always cohesive or as tightly woven as I would have liked, but I could overlook it on this occasion, mainly because of the chills and thrills, and horrifying shivers I got along the way, which is what really makes the book work.
The ending is an unexpected stunner, and reminded me a little of the old chillers written back in the seventies. I love those books and have long hoped that someone would revise the genre a bit, give it a modern flair, without watering it down or sacrificing the spooky atmosphere in the process. This author has done an admirable job of that here.
Overall, this creepy tale of Gothic horror and suspense is the perfect book to curl up with on a dark and stormy night. But, beware… you might go to sleep with the lights on!
3.5 stars -
Abigale Hall is a book that didn't sell itself to me directly, it took a while for me to get into the story. But, at the same time was I curious enough to know more, to find out answers. Why did the aunt send Eliza and Rebecca to that weird house, and what's going on there? What's wrong with the housekeeper Mrs. Pollard. Is the house haunted or is it just Eliza imagining that? And, to be frank, what is going on with Rebecca? Lots of questions, and as the story progressed the more hooked I become until I finally had to admit that I was quite taken with the book.
Now, I have to admit that haunted houses are "my thing". Just give me a tragic or horrifying backstory or both and some poor family moving into the house and I'm sold. Abigale Hall has an interesting backstory and I wanted to know, is there a ghost or not? But, I must say that the ending surprised me and pushed the stable 3-star rating to a 4-star rating. It's a jaw-dropping kind of ending, in many ways.
Abigale Hall may have taken some time for me to get into, but it turned out to be one of those books that I'm glad I kept on reading. The story turned out to be interesting and I was intrigued by Abigale Hall and wanted to know what was going on there. And, most of all, I like that the conclusion surprised me several times. It's not a horror story per se, more a mystery story with a bit of an ominous feeling to it.
I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through Edelweiss for an honest review! -
Well fleshed out with unlikable characters. Eerie, suspenseful, engaging. Gruesome, horrific. Wonderful use of imagery. Nail-biting at the edge of your seat. History thrown in, but only a few pinches, it never becomes a lesson. A medieval thriller for modern times. A YA adventure into grizzly, ghostly villages and people. A thrill of the wrong kind! Hair-raising, fast moving and scary!
There you have it. The story of seventeen-year-old Eliza Haverford and her troubled sister Rebecca who land up in a remote, ghostly village in the Welsh countryside, during WWII. They are orphans, losing their mother to the Blitz, and their father to suicide. In the land of the deprived, nobody cared, especially not their aunt Bess, struggling against the odds in her filth-ridden London apartment, where food debris plastered the stairs of the building and people roamed the area to feast on the weak, the lost, and the destitute.
The two young girls's destiny is Thornecroft, the manor house hidden as though behind high brick walls. It looked abandoned. It was not. Mrs. Pollard, the housekeeper with a love of archaeology and Mr. Drewry graced its halls. Somewhere inside was the reclusive owner, Mr Brownawell. Ancient portraits adorned the high walls everywhere. Portraits that spoke to Eliza: in her dreams; when she was awake; when she was working. Nightmares filled up her nocturnal hours, depriving her of sleep. The loudest voice came from the deceased Victoria Kyffin's face all over the manor. Her pictures were everywhere. She was once the bride-to-be. Horrors and secrets filled the empty halls where the smells of sulphur and marrow hanged over everything. The old mansions was rotting from the inside out, or maybe it was the other way around...
Ruth Owen, an Irish seamstress in the village of Plentynunig, turned out to be a friend; someone Eliza could trust, after Rebecca mysteriously disappeared.
The book is listed as historical fiction in the GR blurb, which I only slightly agree with. In my humble opinion it rather fits perfectly into the Gothic horror genre and as such as a five star read. It also listed as Fiction \ Thrillers \ Psychological, and that is also good categories for this tale.
Multi dimensional and thought-provoking, even though I wanted to wash my hands until raw skin remained, or demand a transorbital labotomy to forget, after closing the book. Goodness, I survived!
A perfect YA read!
Thanks to Sky Horse Publishing and Edelweiss for the review copy. The book was worth the time. -
Wow, what a remarkably dark-toned book! Reading the description, I wasn't expecting a fairy tale, but this is definitely not one to read if you're looking to be cheered up! It's a dark, gothic tale set in the aftermath of WWII, full of drama and suspense. So much drama and suspense, actually, that I had a little bit of a spook reading it home alone at night. I wasn't expecting that, but this story surprised me in more ways than one.
There were a couple of parts that felt repetitive, i.e., the character being forced to eat by the antagonist, but for the most part it was a fast paced, addictive read. Even the parts that felt repetitive didn't seem to bog the story down too much, they just seemed unnecessary.
I rarely enjoy a book with this much unhappiness, but the writing and overall tone made it just seem right. Nothing else would have felt authentic in this story.
4 full stars!
*Copy provided by NetGalley and Skyhorse Publishing for a fair and honest review. Thank you for making this available! -
After a promising start, I gave up on this this. I managed to get 100 pages or so into this but the storyline became repetitive and my interest waned. I cut to the last few chapters and felt I hadn't really missed much in the end.
It was atmospheric in its gothic setting and the locations and time period were captured well but I couldn't understand the need for two stories running parallel along one another. They didn't seem to fit and felt a bit pointless.
I've come away a tad disappointed but I know others have really liked it, so clearly it just wasn't for me. Oh well. -
Call me impressed!
After World War II and the death of both their parents Eliza, 17, and her younger sister Rebecca, 12, are shipped off to work for Mr. Brownawell at Thornecroft Manor. Here they meet the housekeeper, Mrs. Pollard, a formidable woman that rules the manor with an iron fist.
Eliza immediately knows that something is amiss within these walls and soon her nightmares begin and the strange sense that someone is watching her only serve to fuel her paranoia. Meanwhile, Rebecca, begins to act more strange and bizarre by the day.
Lauren Forry knows how to spin quite the creepy yarn here. The ending was completely CRAZY but in the best way possible. I thoroughly enjoyed this sinister read.
"Run rabbit, run rabbit, run run run
Bang, bang, bang goes the farmers gun
Run rabbit, run rabbit, run run run"
TW: animal cruelty -
This was perfect for the "Ghost Story Junkie". While it was an anxiety-inducing story, it was also a really well-written one. It's categorized as a suspense novel, but it is more a gothic horror novel. If you like ghost stories, houses that there is just something slightly "off" about, along with a fast-paced page-turner, this one is waiting to go home with you. The two main characters are a pair of very young sisters that have become victims of the war with the death of their parents and end up being sent to Wales to work for Mr. Brownwell who they never see. They do see the housekeeper, Mrs. Pollard, who is . . let's just say..."off". They try to make plans to escape back to London, but when Eliza discovers a book covered in blood, she has to figure out what’s going in the house and why none of the other girls hired in the past are alive. None of the characters in the book are completely likable, even the two sisters, but the story drew me in in spite of that. Eliza frustrated me at the start of the book, but later she goes through some necessary character changes, and I was rooting for her by the end. Rebecca was a 'horse of another color". Her role in the story became twisted, but interesting. Let's just say that she definitely adds to the creepiness and mystery.
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This book is full of dreams and madness.
That sounds like it could be great, doesn't it?
Well … no.
A common piece of advice for aspiring writers is "never start a book with a character's dream". And Lauren A. Forry didn't. However, after a little while it seemed as though every other chapter began with a dream. Another fairly common piece advice for everyone is "your dreams are always much more interesting to you than to anyone else in the world". By the third or fourth time a chapter opened in the middle of Eliza's nightmare, I rolled my eyes. By the fifth or sixth time I was frankly disgusted. This was another time I was constantly on the verge of quitting, but kept reading because I wanted to know how it all would be wrapped up.
Someday I'll learn that it usually isn't really worth it.
The other part of my first line, madness, was something else that started to inspire disgust by the time I got through the book. By the end this book was starting to look like a DSM-5, a psychiatric diagnosis guide. I'm sure I've used the comparison to salt before in a review: some is good, and more is never better. This was just all much too much.
The other reason I kept going was that the writing had some merit. The gradual – very gradual – revelation of what happened to Eliza's family, and the unspooling of how Abigale Hall got to be the place of horror as described in the book was handled well, for the most part.
But characterization was not terribly strong – Eliza's love, Peter, was a bit like a paper doll being moved through the plot, and the bad guys were straight out of central casting for any 60's gothic. And the madness lapping at just about everyone's knees and splashing about on all the walls and ceilings left lots of questions throughout as to who was trustworthy and who was not. Done well, of course, this sort of uncertainty adds to the atmosphere of a creepy gothic novel. Not done well, it can cause whiplash.
And in the end the pain and aberrant behavior and horror – and dreams and madness – proliferated to the point that it became rather pointless, and … I'm tempted to use the phrase "torture porn", especially since a great deal of the aberrant behavior and horror is focused around a young girl. After chapter upon chapter of oh no she's not – oh, she did, I became jaded, until the big climax of the story landed with a blood-soaked thud. It was like the most brutal five episodes of Criminal Minds in which children are involved, the ones I will never ever watch again, balled together and distilled down to take out the enjoyable character moments. And I found the ending completely unsatisfying, and not something that justified ploughing through the whole book.
The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review. -
After losing their mother and than losing their father to suicide, 17 year old Eliza and her troubled little sister Rebecca are forced to go to work for the mysterious Mr. Brownawell at Abigale Hall. When Eliza begins to unravel the mysteries and secrets of the house she must act quickly to save her little sister!!!!! THANK YOU GOODREADS FIRSTREADS FOR THIS FREE BOOK!!!!!
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A delightful chilling historical tale!
Lauren A. Forry creates a fascinating glimpse into our past. Set in post war England, we get a real sense of the era, with its rationing and the vulnerability of young people and mental distress. Seventeen year old Eliza and her younger sister Rebecca are sent to work in the eerie Abigale Hall. They are orphans and have no-one to support them. They are soon trying to uncover the secrets of the place and make sense of it all. Abigale Hall has secrets, hidden away amidst the dust and the gloom. Their employer is the mysterious Mr Brownawell. What awaits the sisters at Abigale Hall? Are they in danger?
Lock your doors, don't answer the phone and prepare yourself for a slice of gothic horror. From the first page, there is a real sense of both the threat of death and post war era austerity. The atmosphere is intoxicating, as Abigale Hall slowly reveals its musty creepy side. I would not want to swap places with Eliza and Rebecca. Everyone knows that something will happen. The question is when!
This is a book, which reeks of death and decay. It is not happy and uplifting. It does not shy away from gloom and the darker side of life. It massively entertained, as well as slightly shocked me. The historical slant completely won me over.
Recommended for fans of creepy haunted houses and girls in mortal danger! -
Eliza and her sister, Rebecca, are living with their Aunt Bess in London. Due to Aunt Bess's gambling debts, she sends Eliza and Rebecca away to work for a Mr. Brownwell in Wales. The girls work under the supervision of the housekeeper, Mrs. Pollard. Things aren't right at the manor. Eliza believes she sees the ghost of Victoria, a girl who disappeared suspiciously. When Rebecca is sent away to a hospital, Eliza becomes even more paranoid.
Peter and Eliza are dating. When Eliza disappears, Peter searches for her. He's almost been killed twice during his search. Peter won't give up until he has found Eliza.
I've read some of the reviews and some have labeled this book a Gothic Horror. I would categorize it as a Gothic Mystery. There were times during the middle of the story when I mentally asked, "Is it over yet?" Perhaps I am missing something important in this story. The characters Eliza and Rebecca are well drawn. Peter seems more than a secondary character. He needs more depth to his backstory, however, to make him a primary character. The plot and subplots weave smoothly through the storyline. The description is ominous and gothic. The atmosphere is eerie. A good book for an evening's read. -
Eliza, 17, and Rebecca, 12 have had a traumatic life. Sent out of London as war evacuees during the Blitz, they returned to the city as orphans. They are taken in my their Aunt Bess, but their life is hard. In serious debt, Bess sends them to Carmarthenshire, Wales to work at a gloomy Welsh manorhouse named Thornecroft. I liked Eliza so much at first. She is given only a short time to pack for her journey to Wales and laments the fact that she cannot bring her beloved books along with her.
They are put to work by the housekeeper, the evil Mrs. Pollard. Their host, the ill and illusive Mr. Brownawell, is seldom seen. The only other living beings on the vast estate are the one-armed groundskeeper, Mr Drewry and his howling wolfhound, Kasey.
Thornecroft has no electricity, so Eliza is expected to do her work with the aid of a Tilley lamp. The manor is dark, dusty, dirty, mouldy, disused, and creepy. The only place that seems at all light and peaceful is the glass-domed circular foyer called Abigale Hall.
"Abigale Hall was her favourite place, the only spot that felt untouched by the evil eroding the rest of the manor."
"Ever since they arrived at the manor, Rebecca seemed to be slipping into her old ways, everything the hospital fixed breaking once again."
In their first few days at Thornecroft, Eliza's younger sister Rebecca behaves oddly. Deeply traumatized and already suffering from some mental health issues, Rebecca has taken to carrying a dead mouse around in her pocket which she strokes continuously... Then she finds an old bisque doll with the eyes gouged out...
"The world was wicked and cruel"
When Eliza is instructed to clean the library, she cannot believe her luck. Finally she will be able to see some books, perhaps even borrow one. To her utter dismay and bitter disappointment, the shelves are barren. Would this horrible place allow her no comfort at all? She was unable to contact her boyfriend Peter before being whisked off to Wales, so he has no idea where she is... Her sister is behaving erratically, and she begins to see what she believes is the ghost of Victoria, one of the house's former occupants.
Meanwhile, Peter, back in London, tries to find Eliza's whereabouts. He suffers many trials and more than a little danger in his pursuits.
As for Eliza and Rebecca? Well, it turns out that they had many predecessors at Thornecroft, all of whom seem to have gone missing... Eliza is plagued with terrifying nightmares.
This novel had many good points. The description of the post-war shortages and rationing was well done. The setting was equally well described. The characters were fully-fleshed out. It was the plot development that let it down for me.
I began reading this book on Halloween, as I was in the mood for a dark, gothic novel. Well... I got the dark, and the gothic, but unfortunately I didn't get a read that I can, in all honesty, recommend - this was very disappointing as the beginning of the book held so much promise. The title was misleading as the manor was not called 'Abilgale Hall', it was called Thorncroft. The intriguing premise, and atmospheric setting, were more than offset by the dark, dour, and dismal story. At about 65% through the novel, I was hoping for a miracle, but sadly, I didn't get one. The plot plodded along interminably. The ending was disturbing and felt rushed. A bleak gothic horror novel, I was surprised to read that it won the Faber and Faber Creative Writing MA Prize.
I received a digital copy of this novel via Edelweiss and Skyhorse Publishing in expectation of my honest review. -
The worst Gothic novel I've read.
Couldn't care about any of the characters and so the suspense didn't work either.
I wonder if there's something soulless about studying Creative Writing. Everytime I read drivel I flip to about the author and find they have a Masters in Creative Writing.
For a creepy story about sisters which I much preferred try Leaving Poppy by Kate Cann. -
In a hidden corner of the Welsh countryside, beneath the dark green hills and stretching deep underground, lies a secret. Though few know of its existence, all feel its presence, for above this secret rests a house.
In the second World War, Rebecca and her seventeen-year-old big sister Eliza lost their parents, one to the Blitz, the other to suicide. They live with their aunt in London, but soon find themselves swept away to a Welsh mansion in a village ripe with rumours and curses and, bit by bit, these rumours become all-consuming.
Abigale Hall hooks you in. The first two lines alone set a sense of the suspense and the fact it's got some quirky turns of phrase, and once you start the sisters' story, you're invested. Why were they sent away? Will they be found by those left behind? What the hell is going on in that house?
Death hangs on the edge of the pages; if the curse and murmurings are anything to go by, the sisters find themselves in a tentative position, and you turn one at a time, wondering if this is the page where it leaps out and takes hold, wondering how their relationship will alter further because of it. I suppose that's why I really liked it and whizzed through it - the curse lingers over the town, it lingers on the pages. It's unsettling, it makes you wonder, and when you think you're onto what that secret is, chances are you'll find out you're entirely wrong, time and time again.
There were times when I wanted more background on the family and the War, but by the time you got to the end, it all kind of made sense without that. But really, it's Eliza and Rebecca versus the world, each other, and then some in between, and I liked it. -
Meh. I really didn't enjoy this book very much. I fell for the cover, but it wasn't my thing as it turned out.
I received a free review copy from netgalley. -
This tale was an interesting and scary one. I kept reading because of my morbid curiosity and I am a sucker for a romantic ending. I was curious about what was happening inside Abigail Hall. This book ended nothing like I expected; Lauren Forry caught me off guard with the ending. A truly well orchestrated tale, the twists are endless but they lend character to the book, nicely done.
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Daphne du Maurier meets Goosebumps.
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This is a dark and disturbing horror story, somewhat gothic in style with a definite feel of similar books by Daphne du Maurier. It makes a compelling page turner but is much gloomier and more depressing than I imagined. If you like sombre, sinister, suspenseful tales this one is for you.
Abigale Hall, set in the gloomy aftermath of World War 2, in days of food shortages, job shortages and the return of many walking wounded to civilian life, tells the story of 2 orphan sisters, teenager Eliza and her younger sister Rebecca living with an Aunt. Their life is pretty grim, living in the repercussion of their parents deaths, but bearable. Eliza works in a cinema, has a boyfriend Peter and seems devoted to her little sister, whom it soon becomes apparent has some disturbing problems of her own.
Suddenly Eliza finds she and her sister are banished from their Aunts home in London to a remote part of Wales where live in jobs have been secured for them both, helping the dreadful Mrs Pollard, housekeeper in an ancient, typically spooky, crumbling, cursed mansion.
As the girls life there unfolds and their situation becomes so awful that their previous mundane existence in London seems like a distant dream, the story moves between this ramshackle pile, the local village of Plentynunig where locals mutter of curses and shun the girls, and back in London where hapless Peter ponders his girlfriends sudden departure and tries, fruitlessly to discover her whereabouts getting himself in ever deeper water.
The story is a real page turner because I kept wondering what was going to unfold next - and whatever does is NEVER pleasant! There is a creeping sense of unease which builds and develops into an overriding theme of gloom and nastiness, I don't think I found one uplifting momenet throughout the whole book! From discovering about the death of the girls parents, to finding out whats going on in the old house things get darker and grimmer. So many deaths occur I lost count and everything which unfolds has an underlying nastiness of decay and corruption.
From roomsful of defaced books, dead mice carried around in pockets, to horrible apparitions, strange ghost lights and history of dead and missing girls the book carries you relentlessly towards its awful conclusion where you just know everyone's not going to come out of it smiling and smelling of roses, or even alive!
The house is not called Abigale Hall, which confused me somewhat, it's called Thornecroft and Abigale Hall is just an area of the rambling mansion.
This is a well written and competent gothic horror story for afficionados of the genre and anyone who likes to go to bed shivering and looking over their shoulder.
I was kindly provided with an advance copy for review purposes by the publishers Black and White Publishing. -
3.5 stars.
Abigale Hall is a slightly tame horror novel. It is ideal for young adults and adults who don't like to be to horrified.
The whole story is steeped in mystery and intrigue. It is very obvious from when both sisters arrive at Abigale Hall that things are not quite right and Eliza does her best to get to the bottom of it all.
I felt quite sorry for Eliza, having lost both parents, her and Rebecca's lives take a very uncertain turn and are forced to work to earn their keep. Eliza is also having to be parent to her younger sister which you wouldn't think would be to bad but Rebecca is a very strange girl and is obviously quite disturbed.
This is one of those books that I think would make a great film as the setting of the house as well as the house itself you just know on looks alone would have you hiding behind the cushions.
There are a couple of nice characters in the story but the rest are not very likeable at all, especially Mrs Pollard. Her treatment of everyone that she has to deal with is quite shocking and she certainly is far from an ideal boss.
The house obviously holds some dark secrets and I have to say I had absolutely no clue as to what it was and was as shocked as Eliza when all is revealed.
Abigale Hall is a decent read and one I would recommend. For me though it was slightly to tame for my tastes and only really started to horrify me towards the end, hence my rating, but other than that I really enjoyed the novel for what it was. -
As punishment for misbehaving, Eliza and her troubled young sister Rebecca are sent away to a mysterious manor that possesses a horrifying secret.
This probably would've made for a good short story, but at over 350 pages it became repetitive and exhausting. -
3.5 stars. This book initially took me by surprise. It captured this grey atmosphere of war time London and the characters, Eliza, Peter and Rebecca, felt modern in a way that, despite the setting, I easily became invested in them. I really enjoyed the London parts and when it first moved to the mansion, but then it started to feel a bit slow and I didn’t overly enjoy the house setting once it was centred there. It reminded me of The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell and I felt the same way about that one too. It also took slightly too long for the dots to connect and form a coherent picture, which left me feeling a bit impatient by the end.
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I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
I think that really there are three big problems I had with this book:
1. It drags on and on
2. It can't really decide what kind of book it wants to be
3. I don't like or care about literally any of the characters
This book could easily have cut out about a hundred pages, it definitely would have been much more compelling as a novella rather than a full length novel. I felt like nothing really happened except in the very beginning and then the last 60 or so pages when all the 'whys' were finally revealed. the middle of the book just seemed like Eliza wandering around the house and Peter wandering around in London and nothing actually important happening. I don't think we actually needed the chapters from Peter's POV at all, or at least not quite so many of them. but I feel like basically the same thing could have been achieved with 3ish chapters spaced throughout the book.
Overall I just felt like the skipping back and forth made the book feel disjointed because Eliza's story at the house is very much a creepy house / ghost story kind of feel whereas Peter's story in London is more of a mystery / crime kind of thing. I would have preferred to have just picked a style / genre and stuck with it.
Overall I just found it very bland and the big reveal at the end did nothing to change that. Also I'm all for nuanced / not typically likable characters but you have to give me something to work with because if I hate or am ambivalent towards literally every person in your story I'm not really inclined to keep reading it. -
DNF @ page 41.
In theory, this book is everything I would love. Gothic horror is my jam and this one promised orphans, a creepy manse, mystery, and a vicious housekeeper-- but in two days of trying to start this, the writing style wasn't for me. It was needlessly pretentious without the moody atmosphere I expect in a trashy gothic horror novel. The dialogue was odd and mechanical. Couldn't get beyond chapter three. -
Review to follow
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Teenagers Eliza and Rebecca live in London with their hard-as-nails Aunt Bess after losing both their parents in the Second World War. Although she isn't explicitly described as such in the book, it's obvious that Rebecca has learning disabilities and mental health problems. She's breezily articulate but struggles to control her temper and appears to lack empathy and social skills; it's also hinted that she has spent time in some form of institution. Seventeen-year-old Eliza, who works as a theatre usher and has a boyfriend, Peter, is more or less entirely responsible for Rebecca's care and clearly feels a heavy burden of responsibility. One day Aunt Bess sends both girls to rural Wales, having found Eliza a position as a general purpose maid at Thornycroft, a dark and rambling manor house owned by an elderly, disabled recluse (the 'Abigale Hall' of the title is not the manor house, but only a particular part of it) and run by a cruel, cold housekeeper, Mrs Pollard. From the moment the girls arrive, something seems to be terribly wrong at Thornycroft, but Eliza has a vivid imagination and is badly affected with what seem to be post-traumatic symptoms after her father's death. Is Thornycroft really as full of dark secrets as Eliza suspects?
The book's post-war setting is nicely evoked, and makes a pleasing change from Victorian gothic while managing to be every bit as dark and shadowy. It feels stylised rather than entirely realistic (I don't think the author is British, and that does show at times) but that works well in the context of the story. However, I found this book rather slow-going at times, and the endless creepy goings-on and appalling wrongs done to Eliza by Mrs Pollard soon started to feel repetitive. There are only so many times I could read about Eliza eating or smelling terrible food that makes her feel sick, and only so many times Mrs Pollard could berate Eliza for some trivial misdemeanour, before I began to tire of it. Mrs Pollard herself was also too much of a stretch for me to believe in, a sort of cross between Mrs Danvers and the Wicked Witch of the West.
There is also a subplot involving Peter, Eliza's boyfriend, who is trying to find out what has happened to her, and how. I found I couldn't really engage much with this part of the storyline, which strays into the seedy post-war London underworld, and for me it just seemed to jar with the rest of the story - it's much grittier and more realistic than Eliza's storyline. If Abigale Hall were a film, it would feel as if Brighton Rock had been cut with Crimson Peak.
On the plus side, the descriptions of the sensations and smells of London and Thornycroft are almost viscerally vivid at times - Eliza seems to be hypersensitive to both in a way that borders on obsessive-compulsive. Eliza and Rebecca are also fascinating characters, and the relationship between them is complex. Eliza is not an entirely reliable narrator, and at times seems to be hiding as much from the reader as Thornycroft itself.
Overall, while there was a lot that I enjoyed about Abigale Hall, and the book is cleverly plotted with an interesting protagonist and setting, I felt it was somehow less than the sum of its parts. I certainly didn't feel as if I'd wasted my time reading it and the gothic craziness of it all is fun, but for me the different elements of the book didn't really hang together as a whole and something was lacking. -
Oh my. This is a mess, repetitive and overwrought. The potential to be a good book was there, but the writing and characters are weak. Agree with other reviews that the tedious use of nightmares as a plot device was tiresome. Also, does not take place during WII as the novel summary seems to imply. It clearly needs some editing.
