Today I am reviewing a book so autumnal, it might as well have a witch's hat on and be surrounded by Pumpkin Spice Lattes. It has also been on my To Be Read Pile the longest, but this time of year seemed absolutely the right time to read this book and now I get to share this with you!

Read my review of Pine by Francine Toon

Whenever I am reading a new book, I always start by reading the back of the book, looking at the cover then reading all the blurb leading up to the start of the story. Having read the novel, I then read all the postcript - author acknowledgements, coming soon books, whatever is on the end pages. It's a bit of a ritual I have around reading, and I'm interested to know if you maybe have book rituals yourself?

Katie Lumsden's acknowledgements are very interesting, a mini-potted history of how she came to write The Secret of Hartwood Hall. She describes this as a conversation with Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, which seems an odd thing to say until you come to read this book. Then it all makes sense.

The year is 1852, and recently widowed Margaret Lennox takes up the post of governess at Hartwood Hall in Yorkshire. The villagers stay away, and the household rarely ventures into the village, there is a rumour of a ghost and strange goings on at the house. But Margaret Lennox is hiding a secret of her own following the death of her husband.

The first time I read Jane Eyre, I had those classic tingles of horror. The part where Jane sees Rochester's first wife as she rips her wedding veil, the loud laughing of Grace Poole, and the ghostly face in the dark give me the shivers.

And it is a similar case in point with this novel. The villagers warn Margaret away from the House, Margaret is warned not to enter the ruined East wing, her charge talks about being tired of keeping secrets, footsteps on the stairs when there should be none. All of these give tingles up the spine, a jump in the dark and you find yourself putting an extra cheering lamp on.

Lumsden has created a suitably bleak atmosphere, there is a lot of travelling by candlelight, rain, cold days and hard frosts. All seek to build the tension and it is done very well. This is a house of secrets. And secrets there are. An illicit love affair with the gardener, a child whose hair is dyed and a blackmailer who will stop at nothing to get what they think they deserve.

All in all, this is a wonderful spooky thriller. And it does feel like that conversation with Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. Lumsden's next novel The Trouble with Mrs Montgomery Hurst is currently in hardback. You better believe this is going on my wish list!

Have a great weekend. x