Fiercombe Manor

December 15, 2014
Tragic events, buried secrets, and a mysterious manor tether the lives of two English women, separated by 30 years, in Riordan’s (Birdcage Walk) Gothic-style dual narrative. Beginning in 1932, narrator Alice Eveleigh, a naive 22-year-old in London, becomes romantically involved with a married man. When she becomes pregnant, Alice’s shamed parents concoct a story about a dead husband and whisk her out of the city to an old friend, a buttoned-up housekeeper at the Stanton family’s Fiercombe Manor in the Cotswolds. The novel then backs up to 1898, with the other narrator, Lady Elizabeth Stanton, expecting a second child; she hopes it is a healthy boy, an heir for her demanding husband. In 1932, Alice spends her own pregnancy exploring Fiercombe, reading Elizabeth’s hidden diary, discovering haunting old photos and discarded toys, and experiencing strange phenomena—screeching owls and “murmuring” wind. She befriends the estate’s heir, Tom Stanton, and discovers that she and Elizabeth share a bond: “My life apparently turning into a morbid echo of Elizabeth’s.” When a shocking secret is revealed, Alice fears for herself and her baby. Riordan’s bewitching blend of tainted aristocrats, secretive domestics, and manipulative quacks amid a crumbling English country home is atmospheric and entertaining.

December 1, 2014

In her pregnant and unmarried state, Alice is considered a disgrace and burden on her family, so she leaves bustling London for the lonely, quiet estate of Fiercombe Manor. It is 1933, and on her own, Alice is left to perform light housework and walk through the wild and (mostly) abandoned gardens. However, there is an undercurrent within the house, an echo of the past that Alice can feel pressing on her, begging to be revealed. She finds diaries from the former lady of the house, Elizabeth Stanton, which skirt around tragedies from 30 years ago and reveal that Elizabeth was also pregnant. Alice feels a kinship despite the foreboding that history may try to repeat itself. VERDICT Heavily borrowing from gothic literature staples Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca and Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, Riordan (Birdcage Walk) creates a visceral and lively narrative that seizes the reader's attention. Readers of the Victorian/gothic genre who have also enjoyed Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale and other contemporary gothics will applaud and welcome this addition.--Jennifer Funk, McKendree Univ. Lib., Lebanon, IL

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 15, 2015
A Gothic English manor in a remote valley provides the backdrop to this tale of two pregnant women living 40 years apart.Alice Eveleigh-a well-educated but romantically naive office worker in 1933 London-has found herself pregnant by a married man. Her mother worries only about what the neighbors will think, so she shuttles Alice off to Fiercombe Manor, the ancient seat of the noble Stanton family, where her mother's childhood friend, Mrs. Jelphs, is the housekeeper. There, Alice can have her baby, and give it up for adoption, without bothering anyone-or so her mother thinks. Installed at Fiercombe for the duration of an unusually hot summer, Alice grows increasingly curious about the former residents of the house, especially Elizabeth, the beautiful one-time Lady Stanton, and her last pregnancy. What happened to Elizabeth, her daughter, Isabel, and the child she carried, and why was Stanton House, the monstrous modern mansion built to replace Fiercombe, torn down after standing only 10 years? Why does Tom Stanton, the current heir to the estate, feel responsible for his brother's death 20 years before, and will his guilt affect his budding romance with Alice? "The real ghosts are the ones that take up residence in your mind," Tom says, which means that everyone at Fiercombe is haunted by something. The stern Mrs. Jelphs can't keep her secrets forever, though, and little by little, Alice uncovers the fate of Elizabeth and her daughter, a fate that Alice worries she and her own child may share. Despite reaching toward tales like Rebecca and the novels of Sarah Waters, Riordan offers a leaden version of an old story burdened by awkward flashbacks, flat characters, exposition-heavy dialogue, and a drawn-out, uninspired mystery at its heart.For true gothic thrills and chills, look elsewhere.

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

January 1, 2015
It's 1933, and Alice Everleigh is pregnant. She's not married, but her lover is, so her mother ships her off to Fiercombe Manor in rural Gloucestershire, where a childhood friend works. Mrs. Jelphs has been in service since the turn of the century, when Edward Stanton shunned the ramshackle manor and built a modern estate for his beautiful wife, Elizabeth, and the sons she was sure to bear him. Instead, their marriage was plagued by miscarriages and postpartum depression, which cut Elizabeth off from her husband and left her afraid to even confide in her diary. By the time Alice arrives, there is no trace left of Stanton Manor, Elizabeth, or her daughter. Alice's summer is peppered by visits from Thomas Stanton, the rakish heir, but more frequently by increasingly dangerous supernatural events. Alice takes refuge in Elizabeth's diary, but its writer's unknown fate has Alice questioning her own safety. Mrs. Jelphs has a touch of Mrs. Danvers about her, and the old driver, Ruck, is truly creepy. This is a good match with fans of new gothics by Diane Setterfield and Kate Morton.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)