The Sea House

December 16, 2013
Hints of magic abound in Gifford’s haunting fiction debut, which follows two story lines; both are set on the island of Harris in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides, but the two take place more than a century apart. In the 1990s, Ruth and her husband, Michael, buy a property on Harris, the rundown Sea House, only to make the horrifying discovery of an infant’s bones buried beneath the house during their renovations. Ruth becomes intent on researching the home’s previous inhabitants, and asks the local vicar, Dougal, for any information he can provide. He gives her the diary of the Rev. Alexander Ferguson, who lived in the Sea House in the 1860s. Ruth discovers that she and Ferguson have several things in common, including having heard stories of Selkies, mermaidlike people from the sea, when they were children. In addition, both face personal demons during their time at Sea House. Ruth is haunted by the loss of her mother at a young age, while Ferguson, for his part, laments his failure to prevent the eviction of his parishioners from their homes by the local landowner. Ferguson and Ruth eventually find peace with the steadying help of loved ones. Gifford has an ability to bring depth to her characters, whether they live in the 19th century or the 20th, and this helps hold together her sweeping tale. Agent: Jenney Hewson, Rogers, Coleridge and White.

March 1, 2014
On a distant Scottish island, a mermaid myth, a vengeful maid's observations, a minister's breakdown and a haunted woman's psychological barriers combine in a gloomily impassioned gothic exploration of belonging. A cluster of dark events in two interconnected eras drives English novelist Gifford's debut, set on the Hebridean island of Harris, a place of weather-beaten beauty where a contemporary couple, Ruth and Michael, is restoring the old manse, hoping to turn it into a bed and breakfast. But the shocking discovery of a child's remains under the floorboards--with what seems to be a tail and no legs--delays work and provokes nameless anxiety in Ruth, who's been high-strung anyway since her mother's drowning/possible suicide when she was a child and is even more so now that she's pregnant. Folk tales of seal people persist in these islands, and Ruth begins to research them, uncovering the journals of Victorian minister Alexander Ferguson, who lived in the manse in 1860. Gifford spreads the narration of her occasionally oppressive story across various characters: Ruth, Ferguson, and his maid, Moira--a local woman whose family was decimated by the brutal clearance of the land and who dreams of killing the aristocratic landowner. Though top-heavy with suffering, the misery is mitigated by the author's love of place, shining through in her lyrical descriptions of landscape and season, and her empathy for Ferguson's and Ruth's struggles, which lends resonance to their parallel resolutions. Gifford's mournful but very readable romance achieves surprising emotional depths. A writer to watch.

COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

February 1, 2014

In British novelist Gifford's debut (first published in Britain as Secrets of the Sea House), Ruth and husband Michael buy a ruined manse in the Scottish Hebrides to renovate into a bed-and-breakfast. A mysterious and shocking discovery under the floorboards brings the police and raises questions about the local myth of the Selkies (seal people). Ruth's harrowing past unfolds in tandem with the story of the house's inhabitants in 1860: doubting minister Alexander Ferguson; his uneducated and tragic maid, Moira; and the pretty but troubled daughter of the local landowner. In part a thoroughly researched and moving historical novel about the terrible injustices of the Scottish enclosures and clearances of the 18th and 19th centuries, when peasants were thrown off their land to make way for their landlords' sheep, the story always comes back to Ruth and her mental and physical struggles to build the family she never had. VERDICT Gifford deftly manages the disparate plot elements, bringing them to a satisfying conclusion. Ruth's abusive childhood is linked to historical injustices so it provides much to consider for book clubs and sophisticated teens.--Jan Marry, Williamsburg Regional Lib., VA

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2013
Set in a house on the windswept coast of the Outer Hebrides, this haunting tale effortlessly bridges a gap of more than a century. Adeptly interweaving two tales involving residents of the titular house, Gifford sets up an absorbing mystery revolving around local lore and myths about mermaids, selkies, and sealmen. In 1860, novice vicar Alexander Ferguson takes up his new post as parish priest and moves into the Sea House. Fast forward 130 years and newlyweds Ruth and Michael purchase the dilapidated house and begin renovating it. After they unearth the bones of an infant whose legs and feet are fused together, Ruth realizes she must discover what really happened in order to face and destroy her own very personal demons. Stretching seamlessly back and forth through time, layers upon layers of secrets are slowly and effectively peeled away in this evocative debut.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)