Devastated by the
death of her father, Seraphine Mayes finds a photo that starts her on
a quest to find out what happened on the day she and her twin
brother, Danny, were born, and her mother threw herself off the cliffs
surrounding Summerbourne, the Gothic mansion on the coast where the
twins grew up. The twins had a series of nannys, but not Laura, the
nanny who cared for their older brother, Edwin, and ran away on the
day their mother died. It's a time no one wants to talk about.
The atmosphere at
Summerbourne is both enticing and creepy. You can understand why
Seraphine loves the beauty, but feels the tension of underlying
secrets. I enjoyed the descriptions of the old estate on the coast.
For me, it made the story enjoyable.
The story is told
from the alternating points of view of Laura, 1991, and Seraphine,
2017. Both settings were realistic although I preferred the
Summerbourne of 1991 before the tragedy. The estate seemed somewhat
dingy and sad in 2017.
The main characters
are good. I found Seraphine’s grief a little overdone, but it
drove her to solve the mystery of her birth. The secondary
characters, Edwin and his friend Josh, are likable. They are a good
foil for Seraphine’s distress.
If you enjoy romance
and mystery with a Gothic undertone, this is a very enjoyable book.
I received this book
from Net Galley for this review.
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