Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

As the storm clouds gather over Europe, and war seems inevitable, the Natural History Museum in London takes the decision to evacuate many of its precious exhibits to the countryside. Thirty-year-old Hetty Cartwright finds herself raised from the ranks of volunteer to accompany the museum's mammal collection to Lockwood Manor, where it will be housed for the duration of the war.

Hetty is concerned about her ability to keep the collection safe, and the residents of Lockwood Manor make her task an arduous one. Self-important widower Lord Lockwood appears to view the specimens as part of his own private collection, and the household staff are unfriendly and uncooperative. Her only solace is the friendship she feels developing between herself and Lord Lockwood's fragile daughter Lucy.

Tales of hauntings and curses nip at Hetty's nerves, and when some of the specimens seem to move on their own, and others begin to go missing, she starts to doubt her own senses. Does danger really stalk these dark corridors, and are the tales of madness within the Lockwood family true? Lucy certainly seems traumatised, and when the bombs begin to fall on Lockwood, Hetty is slowly consumed by love for this tormented young woman, and the need to protect her from the ghosts of her past.

Jane Healy brings alive twentieth century Gothic in this story, by mixing classic elements of feelings of underlying menace and things that go bump in the night, with an authentically imagined World War II setting. Lockwood Manor with its faded grandeur, and resident dysfunctional family closely connected with scandal and gossip, make for the perfect haunted mansion, and the creepy, otherworldly vibes are ramped up to the max by the addition of a collection of weird and wonderful stuffed animals and all the ephemera that go with them from the dusty halls of the Natural History Museum.

Healy plays with the notions of hauntings in a psychological, and literal sense, through the lives of Hetty and Lucy, who alternate in narrating the story. They find kinship among the exhibits when they are thrown together, and friendship inevitably develops into something more. Healy portrays their growing closeness beautifully, while weaving around them threads of shocking family secrets, and mysteries to be solved with impressive skill for a debut.

Themes of being trapped and chased, especially where male control is concerned, run through the story, and these work really well with the topics of women's freedom and forbidden love that are central to the novel. There are also lovely echoes of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, but from the point of view of Bertha Rochester, and the unscrupulous housekeeper definitely has a du Maurier's Mrs Danvers vibe, all of which add to the discomfiting atmosphere admirably.

The narration of the audio book by Sarah Lambie is handled well, and with expression, but her voices for Hetty and Lucy are almost identical, which does make for moments of confusion. I think in a story like this, with two central characters driving the action, it would have been lifted by having two individual voice actors - one for Hetty and one for Lucy - but overall the narration is very enjoyable.

It is a fine example of Gothic reimagined, well paced and thoroughly compelling, and I look forward to reading more from Jane Healy.

4.5*
Ostensibly about the move of the mammal section of the museum’s collection to Lockwood Manor at the onset of World War II. Which is an interesting fact that the author has based the book around. (See link below)

There is a spooky element to the story, a thread that runs through the book and which gradually gives the background to the daughter, Lady Lucy Lockwood, of the house’s state of mind and why she has such a fidelity to her father, Major Lord Lockwood.

Furthermore, strange things happen to the collection which strikes up a bond between her and the museum’s representative, Miss Hettie Cartwright, at Lockwood. Their friendship deepens and as all of this happens we learn about the darker side of the Major.

This is not a thrill seeking, haunted house story that it seems some readers expected but a story of breaking free from pasts that have made life difficult. For Lucy it is an atmospherically dark exploration of what was really happening in her childhood. For Hettie dealing with her status at work amongst men who make her feel inadequate and a failure simply because she is a woman and that her inability to stand up to this was likely made possible by her mother’s attitude and their relationship.

It is the story of the growing bond between the two main characters that, for me, stands out. Along with what transpires regarding the Major. In a time when some women found a brief freedom from the expectation of marriage and running a house through various war work it could still be very difficult to be a woman pursuing a career. Even more so a woman coming to terms with and wanting a relationship that could, would have dire consequences in work, in society and with family. This is a love story which is set in unusual circumstances and does not always go smoothly. It is also a subtly dark tale of manipulation and power in relationships.

The Animals of Lockwood Manor offers readers a variety of threads to enjoy the different aspects of the book, it has characters that are not all likeable, the pace can be slow but it has a tension at times that is quite uncomfortable. The more I read the more I enjoyed this rather strange but engaging story.

Thanks: Many thanks to the publisher Mantle for an eCopy of The Animals of Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey for review. I have also purchased the eBook.

I did not expect so much to come from this story. Jane Healy takes a novel approach to her topic and proceeds to construct an elaborate but entirely plausible story.

"Hetty Cartwright is tasked with the evacuation and safekeeping of the natural history museum’s collection of mammals. Hetty soon realizes that she’s taken on more than she’d bargained for."

I can't go into details without spoiling the story but the character progression, the themes, the handling of very sensitive and triggering aspects of the story, show an author who knows how to handle her craft. Thank you, Jane for creating Hetty and Lucy.

My only regret is putting off reading #TheAnimalsAtLockwoodManor for so long.

The Animals of Lockwood Manor is a beautifully subtle but gripping story. It was one of those books where I didn't realise how much I loved it and how much it had hit me until I'd finished it. I couldn't stop thinking about it for days. I loved the writing but I loved Hetty and Lucy's friendship and relationship so much too. An excellent read!

Oh I absolutely loved this book! It has everything! Gothic horror, queer romance, taxidermy!

Lockwood Manor looms over the whole affair, as it should in any Gothic novel. A vast manor house, slowly falling apart, as the Second World War begins. I loved the enigma and mystery of the house, the questions about how many rooms there actually are, the tower bedroom with their own princess locked away in them, the dwindling staff, all ruled over by a bully of a lord. And it's into this Gothic masterpiece that Hetty and her collection arrive.

And what a collection it is! The mammal collection from, presumably, the Natural History Museum in London, evacuated to the countryside to escape the upcoming blitz. Rare and fabulous beasts begin to fill the halls of Lockwood Manor, bringing their own mystery and creepiness to proceedings.

This is where the haunting mystery begins to creep in. There are tales of Lockwood Manor being haunted, dreams of a white woman and her beasts stalking its hall, so it is fitting that the horror really begins with the stuffed and mounted beasts. It's slow, creeping horror too. How does the leopard disappear on the first day? Do the animals really keep moving around at night? So many little elements like this really got under my skin, had me guessing, on edge, throughout the book. Once the true horrors of Lockwood Manor were revealed, however, they left me totally shocked and shook. This is a powerful, haunting and moving book!

There's romance too, and again it is slow and subtle, beautiful in its delicacy. The pacing of this novel is perfect, and everything within it is allowed to unfold at its own speed, giving it so much impact when things finally become clear.

A beautiful, powerful Gothic horror which got under my skin and really moved me.

Well written but just not for me I'm afraid I so wanted to enjoy this but not my type of book even though I wanted to try something different.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Great book. I loved reading it. Very interesting and covers alot of information

I have very mixed feelings about The Animals of Lockwood Manor, so I thought it best to layout this review in terms of "what I enjoyed" and "what didn't work for me".

What I Enjoyed:
- The descriptions of life during WWII, including preparing for air raids and the conversation that could be sparked r.e. living in a privileged environment meanwhile rationing takes place.
- The f/f relationship, which was predictable but lovely and I would have loved for it to been developed more. I did like the way that Jane Healey explored sexuality in the book, in general, i.e. "it was the utter failure of it, the way that sex with him had felt like an awkward inconvenience, nothing more - a quasi-medical event - that bruised me the most." (28%)
- The descriptions of the haunted historic manor were wonderful and I enjoyed Healey's descriptive writing, in general.
- I really liked this piece of writing and think it speaks quite well on the patriarchy: "He thinks he can own everything. He thinks he can take us and discard us as he wishes." (92%)
- I really enjoyed the multi-perspective narration, though I felt the narrative was driven by Hetty and I would have preferred greater balance.

What Didn't Work For Me:
- *spoiler* The fact that the plot "twist" seemed to be reliant on childhood sexual violence. I really hate this in literature so was disappointed to see it here, though it was somewhat predictable that the Lord of the Manor was a predator.
- In general, I expected a little more than I got with The Animals at Lockwood Manor. I hoped for more interrogation of privilege, more of a haunted/ghostly presence in the house and, in general, more sophisticated plot development.

I'd like to read more from Healey and I'm curious what they will publish next, even though Animals hasn't been a favourite novel for me.


content warnings: childhood sexual abuse, sexual violence, gender-based violence, domestic violence, gaslighting, house fire.

Set in 1939 at the outbreak of World War 2, Hetty Cartwright is tasked with the evacuation and safekeeping of a museum’s collection of mammals. Lockwood Manor is set to be their home but, as Hetty arrives and mystery and disaster follows her around, she realises she’s made a grave mistake in coming here.

I enjoyed this book. It was a quick and easy read and gave me a different view of the effects and disaster of World War 2; that of a museum collection (and all of the culture and history that is woven within that). It was spooky and would be a great October read. Though the solving of the mystery was relatively predictable, the pace of the book was perfect for me; full of simmering tension that builds and builds.

Lonely, socially awkward Hetty, who lives for her work at the museum is charged with evacuating the mammals department (which includes a variety of stuffed creatures), to a manor house in the country at the beginning of the second world war. She doesn't find the welcome she might have hoped for from Lord Lockwood and the only kindness she experiences is from his fragile and traumatised daughter Lucy. Things being to go missing, strange noises are heard and rumours of madness and hauntings flourish in the claustrophobic atmosphere. Jane Healey's novel has echoes of Rebecca and Jane Eyre with a dash of Sarah Waters. An enjoyable read.

Beautifully written with imagination. The story begins when Hetty takes some of the museum’s animals to Lockwood Manor. Here she is to protect them from war damage, theft and anything else that this unpredictable life throws her way......including Lord Lockwood himself.

Hetty is a strong character, a woman determined to prove her worth and not let anyone discourage her or diminish that strength. Lockwood Manor throws in surprises and dark secrets, shadows and nightmares. Then there is a Lucy, daughter of Lord Lockwood. She has a gentleness and delicate nature that draws Hetty towards her. Can they be more than friends, does Lucy sense the spark between them too?

So many servants and a lot of guests at Lockwood, too many with strange tales to tell. Which ones can Hetty believe and which are nonsense. The story unfolds with terror, fearfulness and also love. A little predictable a couple of times, but the author wrote so well, that I was completely taken in.

Atmospheric, enjoyable and engaging. I don't usually enjoy books set amidst the war but this book is very different. Some completely unexpected twists and a great range of believable characters.

Jane Healey's debut is by turns spooky, enervating and touching (so: ALL THE FEELINGS, just the way I like it). The trick with a (modern) Gothic novel is to inject enough atmosphere without being too obvious about it. Healey capitalises on the natural creepy atmosphere of an old house half-shrouded in dust sheets, where screams split the night and each creak is probably the floorboards but evokes the rumours of a devil woman in white who haunts the halls. But these Gothic touches are used sparingly. The Animals At Lockwood Manor is no horror story, but a tale of two women finding themselves - and each other - in a claustrophobic world of privilege and smothering history. 

The result is charming. I enjoyed their slow spiral of attraction as friendship extends to casual intimacies and what Hetty is far too closeted to recognise as flirting. This was a slow-burn romance I could savour, nicely offsetting my simmering rage at the disingenuous patriarchal rubbish peddled by the Lord Lockwood, standing in here for an Establishment so interested in keeping Hetty in her place. He makes for an excellent antagonist - domineering, belittling, manipulative - and I found myself as frustrated as Hetty by Lucy's loyalty to him.

The plot circles around the increasingly fraught relationships at Lockwood Manor and the question of who - or what - is messing with the collection. It is at its best when focusing on Hetty awakening to the possibilities that Lucy could be more than merely her friend, or wrestling with the entirely mundane challenges of maintaining her collection in the face of damp, leaks, disinterested servants, malicious visitors, not to mention assault by insects, rodents and the patriarchy. While the Gothic trappings are fun, for me the tension was derived from whether Lucy could be liberated from Lockwood. She cannot conceive of a life away from the Manor - or her father - both of which seem set to destroy everything that Hetty holds dear.

That leads directly to my main criticism of The Animals at Lockwood Manor: its villains are telegraphed and its conclusion is unsatisfying in how conveniently it disposes of them. In the end, I feel perhaps Jane Healey needed to choose between period romance or Gothic drama. Animals is no horror novel: weighed purely on Gothic scales, it can only be found wanting. But the explosive melodrama in the final act - and the extended exposition that accompanies it - made for an awkward ending to an otherwise enjoyable read. By letting Lucy off the hook - her choice rendered meaningless in the face of other events - it felt like an easy out, rather than emotionally satisfying conclusion.

I didn't quite gell with this book so didn't enjoy it. I found the main character quite obnoxious and although the descriptions of Lockwood Manor were excellent I didn't find it as interesting as I thought I would and started to lose interest. I finished the book as I think I owe this to the Author to do so but overall it wasn't one for me.

You are always told not to judge a book by its cover but I have to admit it was the cover of this book that drew me in and made it stand out as the potential for great things, fortunately it was not wrong! This is a beautifully written book that I could not put down! It keeps its reader completely engaged until the last sentence. Looking forward to reading more of Healey's work!

Hetty Cartwright is thirty. Stifled and suppressed, curating a museum collection of exotic stuffed mammals is her sole focus. World War Two breaks out, and Hetty and her animals are dispatched to Lockwood Manor so the exhibits can see out wartime without a scratch.

Hetty finds in the Manor a house as oppressive as her existence. Lord Lockwood is hostile and preening, and the locals less inviting than those welcoming Sgt Howie in The Wicker Man. Jane Healey crafts her protagonist believably, her internal struggles and coming of age both depicted with depth. The Gothic touches aren’t overplayed; Healey works hard to create a brooding atmosphere, which if anything could have been made more spooky- it feels a little tame at times.

The relationship between Hetty and Lucy Lockwood, the Lord’s only child, is drawn with genuine heart and conviction. Healey depicts the nature of their growing love with a lightness of touch- it is tender and sensual. The relationship is the only thing that anchors both women, but their fear of it being snatched from them, its forbidden nature- is made real with success.

‘The Animals of Lockwood Manor’ doesn’t break new ground in the genre, but it is much more than a slavish homage to its heritage, making for a wholly enjoyable debut that deserves positive attention.

As soon as I read the premise of ‘The Animals at Lockwood Manor’ by Jane Healey, I was intrigued. It is 1939, war is declared, and a decision is taken to move the exhibits from the Natural History Museum to safety. Hetty Cartwright is charged with moving the mammal collection to a country house where they, and she, will stay for the duration of the war.
Lockwood Manor is one of those atmospheric houses in literature that will stay with you after you read it. Crumbling, dusty and dirty, it has rats and secret rooms, ghost stories and scandal. It is an extra character in this story and in fact has a clearer presence than some of the peripheral characters who perhaps could have been deleted. Hetty arrives with her cargo of taxidermy animals in display cases plus catalogues and samples to find a mixed welcome from the manor’s servants who see the new arrivals as extra work. The irascible lord of the manor welcomes them then disappears, he is seen briefly at mealtimes and when ushering his latest girlfriend from the house. At first Hetty, charged with the care of the mammals, is kept busy arranging, cleaning and organising. Then she finds an ally in the lord’s daughter, Lucy, who though mentally fragile, finds peace amongst the animals. Hetty and Lucy, with their vulnerabilities and lack of confidence, have almost inter-changeable voices.
Then Hetty hears noises at night and starts to find animals not in their correct place in the morning. So when a case of hummingbirds is opened and the tiny stuffed treasures disappear, it becomes clear that something sinister lurks in the house. Is it a ghost, a mischief maker or a burglar? The odious Lord Lockwood and the equally unlikeable housekeeper are dismissive of Hetty’s fears, adding to her feeling of incompetence. This is part ghost mystery, part love affair, part family history. Hetty suspects everyone, first of mischief but she soon comes to realise it is something altogether more dangerous. Feeling vulnerable in her own job and not wanting to admit she can’t cope, she vascillates over writing to her boss in London. The delay is costly.
I remained conflicted about this book to the end. The clever idea is hindered by a slow pace and repetitive description, there are many beautiful passages which do not add to the plot. The final quarter raced along well enough though I still skipped some paragraphs, but I was left feeling I had read a nineteenth century Gothic story set in the Victorian era not World War Two. The absence of war from Lockwood Manor is such that the story might have been set at another time, the wartime setting is wasted. The introduction of a voice from outside the house would rectify this omission, perhaps from someone at the museum, adding conflict, moving the plot along and strengthening the feeling that Lockwood Manor exists in an abnormal bubble.
Read it for the descriptions of the house, the brooding atmosphere and for the way Hetty likens everyone she meets to an animal. ‘Lucy had been called a dove by her father but, as a mammal lover, I thought that she rather reminded me of a cat somehow, in her glamour and warm smiles’.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/

I really wanted to love this book. The premise sounded great: it's early in World War Two and Hetty Cartright, a serious museum curator from London, is sent, along with many stuffed animals, to the country, to Lockwood Manor, as bombs start to fall and the country is in danger. Hetty arrives at spooky Lockwood Manor to be greeted by Lord Lockwood, an arrogant widower; his daughter, Lucy; and a rambling selection of maids, servants and other staff.

Lockwood Manor has countless rooms, dark corridors - and many more tropes which we have come to know and love from Gothic stories. Hetty is extremely diligent and tries to keep a close eye on the animals. Not only are they valuable in so many ways but others do not seem to treat them with the respect that they deserve.

When animals start to go missing, and tiny stuffed hummingbirds are found stashed away in places where they shouldn't be, Hetty begins to suspect strange goings-on. At the same time, Lord Lockwood seems intent on victimising, and belittling, her. He has bigger things on his mind, namely relationships with local girls, including Sylvia, who he is due to marry, and his 'business'; he doesn't have much time for Hetty and what he sees as her little project.

This novel tries hard to create wartime suspense, with the constant threat of enemy attack and blackout blinds, but it doesn't quite cut the proverbial mustard for me. Admittedly, the relationship that develops between Hetty and Lucy is something that would have been frowned upon at the time - and Lucy is not only dealing with her sexuality but also the loss of her mother and grandmother in a tragic car accident. However, it falls a bit flat. I love 'Rebecca', and its beautiful depictions of Manderley and the creepy, quite cruel Mrs Danvers; I relish Sarah Waters wartime novels - 'The Paying Guests', for example, evokes the time period so well.

For me, though, Jane Healey's 'The Animals of Lockwood Manor' doesn't quite do what I wanted it to do. That said, it's a good read and, if nothing else, shows you the lengths that people will go to in order to protect what they love.

‘The Animals at Lockwood Manor' reminded me somewhat of the classic ‘The Secret Garden’ by F.H. Burnett; there being a large mansion tucked away in an English countryside, with a semi-welcomed guest who arrives for an unidentified amount of time, but with a more gothic twist to it.

Hettie Cartwright is young museum curator, who with the start of the WWII, finds herself in charge of safekeeping the Natural History Museum’s animal collection (originally just mammals, but that soon increased to include others), which has been shipped out of London in attempt to protect it from the German air raids. Lockwood Manor with its ninety-two rooms seemed like an idyllic space in which the menagerie would be free to peacefully wait-out the war, but as often seems to be the case, old mansions have secrets of their own which will threaten all of the mansion’s inhabitants.

Hettie soon after moving in, realises that the task of keeping her chargers safe and in the condition they arrived in will be harder than she imagined, for they begin to mysteriously move around or even disappear only to turn up skinned from their fur. The two other occupants of the Manor, Lord Lockwood and his daughter Lucy complicate things further. Lord Lockwood is arrogant and haughty and quick to turn things around and blame Hetty when things go wrong (which happens too often for Hettie’s liking). Meanwhile, Lucy seems to be burdened by some kind of trauma and bouts of ‘bad nerves’ and proves to be a distraction of a completely different kind that endangers to break the hound-like focus Hettie had put on the museum’s collection.

What’s more, Lockwood Manor appears to be head to head in competition for the ‘Creepiest Place Award’ with Stephen King’s Overlook Hotel, with the former being written out to be almost a character of its own. Sounds resonate through empty corridors, footsteps are to be heard in all hours of the night, and servants seems to want to leave not long after being hired with alarming frequency. Soon, Hettie thinking starts to mirror that of Lucy; that there might be a presence, with them on their sight.

I quite enjoyed reading this; there was no work required to get into the novel or stay focused. The random shenanigans involving the animals, the Lockwood Manor itself and the question of what fate awaited the two young women, created a small frisson of tension. This stretched out throughout the length of the novel, keeping the pace steady. I liked how the novel is primarily told from Hettie’s point of view, with a few short chapters in-between, narrated by Lucy Lockwood; offering a needed glimpse of the past and alternate viewpoints of the present. Both of the characters were complex and with faults, but likeable all the same. Throughout, the author tackled a mix of issues, which I will not mention here in order to avoid spoilers, but which added to the depth of the novel that made it a worthwhile and suspenseful read. ‘The Animals of Lockwood Manor’ was far more better than what I envisaged after reading the synopsis. The original storyline and atmospheric setting make it one a kind.