In my role as English Teacher, I love being able to spend time reviewing books for our school library which I use to help the students make great picks when they visit us as well as running a library junior and senior book group where we meet every week and share the books we love and talk about what makes a great read. This is certainly a book that I'd be happy to display at the front as one of my monthly 'top picks' which often transform into 'most borrowed' between students and staff. It's a great read and ties in with my ethos of wishing to assemble a diverse, modern and thought-provoking range of books that will inspire and deepen a love of reading in our students of all ages. This book answers this brief in spade! It has s fresh and original voice and asks the readers to think whilst hooking them with a compelling storyline and strong characters It is certainly a book that I've thought about a lot after finishing it and I've also considered how we could use some of its paragraphs in supporting and inspiring creative writing in the school through the writers' circle that we run. This is a book that I shall certainly recommend we purchase and look forward to hearing how much the staff and students enjoy this memorable and thought-provoking read.

The Animals At Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey is an epic historical read in the gothic tradition. I found it a curious blend of Jane Eyre and Rebecca as passions consumed various inhabitants. Lockwood Manor was reminiscent of Mandalay as the house took on a personality all of its own.
In true gothic style, the novel was creepy. I was never quite sure what was real and what was imagined. Emotions were twisting this way and that as the hairs on my neck rose.
The darkness of the setting mirrored the atmosphere… an old house with many rooms blacked out during World War II. Long, dark corridors, strange goings on at night and unusual figures all added to the mystery. Past influences very much intruded on present lives.
The characters were well drawn and elicited various emotional responses from the reader. The book is written in the first person from two alternating points of view so we get to know two characters intimately.
The Animals At Lockwood Manor was a consuming epic read where passions loomed large. It was a marvellous debut novel from Jane Healey.
A word of caution: some of the content surprised me and I was not totally comfortable with it. There are some adult scenes which some readers may not like.
I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.

When Hetty is appointed a special new director's role in the Museum of London at the eve of England's involvement in WW2, she has to travel to the countryside to the mysterious Lockwood Manor which would be the new home for the stuffed animals and exhibitions normally housed in London. As soon as Hetty arrives in Lockwood Manor, she has to contend with the brutish Major Lockwood, as well as whispering, unhelpful servants and rumours of a ghost. She also meets Lucy Lockwood, the troubled daughter of the house and someone who Hetty begins to feel deeply for. But there are ominous signs afoot and Hetty has to start wondering if someone is playing tricks on her, or if the madness of Lockwood Manor is creeping into her own mind.

The premise of this book is wonderful and the packaging of it is utterly beautiful - from the title to the cover, as well as the illustrated birds at the start of each chapter. It almost makes me sad I read this on Kindle, as the physical copy of this book would be one I'd keep on my shelves even though I didn't love the book.

The story gave me a lot to think about - such as the amount of work that must have gone into preserving such exhibitions from all different museums and art galleries during WW2 across the world and how important it was for humans to keep safe such objects that held so much history and kept a little bit of each person who was involved in their creation and upkeep inside of them. I enjoyed some of the mundane parts of this book where Hetty described the type of work she had to do to keep the animals safe - from humans and critters alike. The imagery in this book of the dark, still rooms full of dead, stuffed animals was also eerie and unsettling in the best kind of way.

Unfortunately, the story as a whole actually kind of bored me which was surprising as I was expecting to really love this book! I found some of the story quite repetitive - from Hetty believing someone was tampering with the animals, to someone actually tampering with them and then Lucy having an episode and the Major attacking Hetty over it. The same kind of storyline happened several times and Hetty's reluctance to just leave the manor became annoying when clearly something weird was going on.

Nothing in this book really surprised me and I felt like everything that happened was really obvious and foreshadowed from the start. The only true surprise for me was Mary's confessions near the end of the book.

I do think one of the best characters in this book is Lockwood Manor itself. It definitely came alive for me on the page in a way reminiscent to Manderly in Rebecca. There was something dark and mysterious about it, it was also shrouded in shadow - even during the summer, and I really felt like I could imagine the sound of footsteps and see the dust hovering in the air in the hallways. It was always silently watching everyone and it definitely gave the book a creepy, unsettling feel that played really well into the overall story.

I felt quite disappointed in this book, even though the synopsis made it sound just my type of book, it wasn’t really. I think it’s the style of the writing and the way in which it has been written. It also felt very long winded too. Just because it wasn’t to my liking though doesn’t mean that it’ll be the same for you.

Hetty Cartwright works in the Taxidermy Department for the Natural History Museum in London. Due to WWII and all of the senior men in the department having now enlisted she has been promoted, and is now in charge of all the taxidermy animals. She has also been put in charge of packing up the animals ready to ship them out of London.

So after weeks of packing up the museum’s most treasured stuffed animals, making sure that they won’t get damaged during transportation, Hetty finally arrives at Lockwood Manor. Where she and her precious animals will stay for the remainder of the war.

Things don’t go so smoothly for Hetty as within a couple of day’s their most prised animal the Jaguar goes missing, other pieces also keep being moved around and put in different rooms. She goes to the Major and asks for his help, but he just shuffles it under the carpet. So she starts to ask the staff if they know what’s happening. They too also seem very reluctant to answer her questions. So she insists that she and the house keeper search the entire house going from room to room looking for the lost Jaguar. This really doesn’t go down well with the staff of the manor and they make it obvious that her being there is disrupting the daily running’s of the house.

The only good thing about being stuck at the manor is that Hetty is becoming good friends with Lady Lockwood, Lucy as she likes to be know the Major’s only daughter. The two of them almost become inseparable and they become closer and closer.

But things aren’t all they seem to be, Lucy has a troubled mind and she’s worried she’ll go mad like her mother. unbeknown to Lucy & Hetty things have been deeply hidden from Lucy by her father, and things eventually become a bit strained between the girls.

While things are still strained between the girl the Major decides to hold a big banquet for some of his chums. Forcing Lucy to attend as she is the Lady of the Manor. The Major also insists that Hetty is also in attendance, as he wants to use the animals from the museum. As the backdrop for the banquet. He insists that the animals of his choosing are arraigned around the room. He also insists that the banquet is held by candle light, which has Hetty in a flap as she’s worried about the animals being damaged and that the Major is trying to pass the animal collection off as his own.

The banquet doesn’t go as the Major planned, it ends abruptly with devastating consequences that there is no coming back from.

As I have already said this book really wasn’t to my liking and I found it long winded and hard to read.

Hetty Cartwright is a bit of a museum piece herself, a rare beast, as she is one of very few women working at her level in museum conservation. She is both thrilled and apprehensive when she is sent to Lockwood Manor to care for the collection of mammals but she soon discovers that the residents of the property are as complicated as the exhibits. Lord Lockwood is a typically grumpy Lord of the Manor, the servants are unhelpful and, even worse, it seems that someone, or something, is targeting the exhibits. The setting is not ideal – far from the temperature and humidity-controlled environment they need – but, worse, they go missing, get damaged and move around mysteriously. The house itself seems the most sinister character of all in many ways – huge and rambling with locked and missing rooms – and Hetty begins to worry that she will have to admit defeat and inform the museum that she can no longer guarantee the safety of the collection. Her only ally, soon to become more than just that, is Lucy the daughter of the house, young, fragile and in mourning for her mother and grandmother who died in a recent accident. Although the mother is not much missed by Lord Lockwood, a notorious womaniser among his other shortcomings.

This book could be described as a modern-day gothic novel – full of dark secrets and gruesome occurrences – but it is rather slower moving than the traditional sort. Not all a bad thing in my view – the slow build-up of psychological terror is far more in keeping with today’s tastes than the incessant horrifying events of The Monk or the Castle of Otranto. There is also a tender love story and plenty to consider about the place of women during that time – quite a complex mix for a debut novel and one worth the reading.

I loved the premise of this and enjoyed the start, but then found the pace too slow for me - although the final denouement happens really quite suddenly and then it's all over. It has a lot of themes in it that I like - the period, women trying to make their way in a world built for men, big country houses, gothiky element - but I found Hetty quite hard to like and as the other characters (except Lucy) are deliberately remote and hostile that was a problem. Ultimately it didn't really gel together for me. Which is a shame. Never mind. Just not quite for me.

The Animals at Lockwood Manor is a slow, hauntingly Gothic tale of oppressed women and repressed feelings.

Hetty is tasked with the responsibility of guarding the museum’s collection of stuffed animals that have been evacuated to Lockwood Manor to avoid the Blitz. This responsibility weighs very heavily upon her from the first, as her career rests on the outcome of her work, and she is increasingly distressed and deranged as the animals are moved, damaged and stolen, with her the only person to take these incidents the least bit seriously.

Our other main narrative character, Lucy, has grown up in the darkly oppressive Lockwood Manor, with a domineering father and increasingly disturbed mother. Nightmares plague Lucy’s sleeping hours and nervous episodes restrict her days, so Hetty’s arrival proves a welcome distraction from her unspecific fears. At first, anyway…

The first thing that struck me on reading this novel was just how many other books I was reminded of: Jane Eyre, Fingersmith, Rebecca, Wide Sargasso Sea and The Yellow Wallpaper being the ones that came up more than once. That’s not to say that this book replicates any of those earlier classics, just that their influence is tangible on the characters, atmosphere and plot: red rooms, suppressed sapphism, dour housekeepers, highly-strung young wives and repressed emotions creeping out in unexpected, unpleasant ways.

Jane Healey’s writing is beautiful: effortlessly drawing the reader under the heavily oppressive spell of Lockwood Manor and into the edgy tension of its inhabitants. The story unfolds slowly and inexorably towards the inevitable climax; emotions can only simmer for so long before something boils over!

One of the main recurring themes here is mental illness and how it was firmly tied to ideas about women’s sexual, emotional and intellectual needs. If a woman was angry, or depressed, or frightened, or lustful – any strong emotion really – why, then she must be mad! Crazy! Hysterical! Healey draws clear parallels here with ideas of The Madwoman in the Attic and shows the harm that such blasé dismissals could easily – and still do – cause. As both Hetty and Lucy fight against accusations of insanity, we see they frequently fear for, and doubt, their own reason and senses. Thus the war in this book is not really the Blitz without, but the hovering darkness within.

Compelling and immersive; fans of slow-burn Gothic suspense novels will enjoy this atmospheric story and its respectful nods to classic literature of the genre.





Lockwood had too many empty rooms. They sat there, hushed and gaping, waiting for my mind to fill them with horrors – spectres and shadows and strange creeping creatures. And sometimes what was already there was frightening enough: empty chairs; the hulk of a hollow wardrobe; a painting that slid off the wall of its own accord and shattered on the floor; the billowing of a curtain in a stray gust of wind; a lightbulb that flickered like a message from the beyond. Empty rooms hold the possibility of people lurking inside them – truants, intruders, spirits. And when there is enough space for one’s mind to wander, one can imagine that loved ones are not dead, but only waiting in a room out of the way, a room you forgot you had, and the urge to search for them, to haunt the corridors and the rooms of your house until you find them, becomes overwhelming.

– Jane Healey, The Animals at Lockwood Manor

Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog

The Animals at Lockwood Manor is a creepy, gothic tale, set during World War Two. Hetty Cartwright is unusual, in that she has been put in charge of the Natural History Museums mammal collection, and the task of removing it from London to Lockwood Manor. She is expected to keep the collection safe, and to keep it in good condition. She is well aware that she only holds the post because the men who would have had the post have all gone to war. Hetty knows that the role will be challenging, but she hasn’t counted on Lord Lockwood, who is bullish, overbearing and opinionated. His daughter, Lucy, is another matter. She seems to be completely controlled by him, and is constantly reminded about her delicate mental health by her father. Hetty feels drawn to Lucy, and tries to help her with her anxiety and her grief at the loss of her mother and grandmother.

This is no fast-moving thriller, but it is creepy, haunting (in fact, is Lockwood Manor haunted?) with a malevolent undercurrent. It’s like the Manor itself is alive. It’s also a story of secrets: family secrets and secret love.

This was a pleasure to read; it’s richly descriptive language described the house, people and the time in history beautifully. If you enjoy a creepy, slow burner, you’ll love this book. I did.

With a creepy country house setting and hints of ghosts, madness and family secrets, The Animals at Lockwood Manor has the sort of plot I would associate more with the Victorian period – and there are certainly some allusions to books like Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and The Woman in White here – but the story is actually set during World War II, which makes an interesting change.

Our narrator, thirty-year-old Hetty Cartwright, works as a curator at a natural history museum in London. With the outbreak of war, a decision is made to remove the museum’s exhibits from the city and transport them to the safety of the countryside. Hetty is given the task of evacuating a collection of stuffed mammals to Lockwood Manor and staying there to take care of them for the duration of the war. As a single woman with no close family or friends, Hetty has devoted her life to her work and is looking forward to being director of her own little museum at Lockwood Manor – it’s a chance to prove herself in a male-dominated field and show that she is the equal of any man.

Once she arrives at the Manor and gets the animals arranged in the rooms, however, she begins to worry that she has taken on more than she can handle. Although Lord Lockwood has agreed to house the collection under his roof, he makes it clear that he is not happy with Hetty’s presence and believes women should be seen and not heard. As if his bullying isn’t enough, Hetty is disconcerted to find that some of the animals seem to be moving from room to room during the night, while others disappear entirely. Afraid and alone, Hetty turns to the only person in the household who offers any friendship and support: Lucy, Lord Lockwood’s daughter. But Lucy, who is haunted by strange dreams and tales of a ghostly woman dressed in white, has enough problems of her own!

This is Jane Healey’s first novel (she is not to be confused with the American author of the same name) and I found a lot to enjoy. First, there’s the atmosphere; the story is set almost entirely within the confines of Lockwood Manor, with a growing sense of mystery and tension as Hetty tells herself that there must be a logical explanation for what is happening to the animals but can’t quite shake off the feeling that they are somehow moving around by themselves. Then there are the social history aspects of the story, particularly the insights into how the role of women changed during the war; for example, we are told that Hetty would never have been promoted to keeper of the mammal collection if so many of the male museum workers hadn’t enlisted with the army, which is why she is so determined to make the most of the opportunity she has been given.

But I had one or two problems with the book too. I thought the pace felt uneven; very slow at the beginning and for much of the first half, with most of the action packed into the last few chapters. And if you took away the animals and found a different reason for Hetty’s arrival at Lockwood Manor, the story would be very similar to any number of other recent historical novels inspired by those same Victorian novels I mentioned in my opening paragraph above. Even the romance which develops in the middle of the novel was predictable. I suppose it was too much to be hoped for that Hetty could have been single just because she wanted to be single!

Overall, though, there was more to like than to dislike and I would be happy to read more books by Jane Healey in the future.

AMAZING. I read this in one day, totally immersed in the lives of these women. The mansion is so clearly drawn, with all these stuffed animals in each room. Haunting, romantic and intriguing, I'm going to be reading more by this author.

Beautifully entertaining and thrilling novel set during WW2.
Healey writes with clear talent in eerie, gothic storytelling and I felt hooked throughout.
It was right up my street when I saw it had natural history taxidermy in it, but then to have some form of spooky vibe too, I knew this was the one for me!
100% would recommend!

‘The Animals at Lockwood Manor’ by Jane Healey begins with the evacuation of the taxidermy collection from the Natural History Museum to rural Lockwood Manor at the outset of WW11. Their curator, Hetty, resides with her animals in order to ensure that they remain in good condition during their enforced exodus. Little does she realise that her time in the countryside will be anything other than peaceful.
Advertised as a Gothic novel, the expected tropes come thick and fast: a woman in white; a blue (rather than red) room; a wicked housekeeper; a cruel pater familias; a terrible fire; madness; strange sounds and movements – and so it goes on. In fact, it goes on rather too much! Whilst one cannot expect Jane Healey, in her first novel, to use gothic to surprise us in the way that the wonderful Sarah Waters does, for example, it is disappointing to note just how much she rehashes material from the Bronte, Collins, Du Maurier archives.
Written in the voices of Hetty and Lucy, nervous daughter of Lockwood Manor, the reader is told over and over about the mysterious movements and strange sounds that happen at night whilst Lucy also explores her childhood memories through her diary writing. Unfortunately, both narratives sound very similar and are rather verbose! Some of the language used also seems strangely archaic and formal for young women in the 1940s. Is Healey subliminally harking back to the nineteenth century Gothic classics? This novel could have done with a stronger edit and with greater focus on the women’s developing relationship. Both this and more psychological exploration of the effect of the opening months of the war on the rural community could have made for a more engaging read. There is a reveal towards the end of the novel but it didn’t affect this reader in the way that it should do, perhaps because those involved are caricatures rather than fully developed people.
My thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan Mantle for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

It is August 1939 and Europe is on the brink of war. Hetty Cartwright has been tasked with moving the precious exhibits from the Natural History Museum in London to a safer more secluded country house for the duration of the hostilities. Evacuated to Lockwood Manor along with her charges the move to the countryside is daunting. With the senior curators drafted into the army Hetty finds herself responsible for the collection and going to battle with the insufferable Major Lockwood who seems to treat it as his own personal collection.

The Animals of Lockwood Manor is an atmospheric gothic novel that meanders through the pages of the book. Slow paced, it matches exactly the isolation and remoteness felt by Hetty in her isolation. There is little in the way of company. Just the boorish General and his fragile daughter Lucy. A small collection of below stairs staff are left at the house and they don’t encourage Hetty to mix with them at all.

As time passes some of the items in the collection begin to mysteriously go astray and others are damaged but no-one can understand how or why. Is it the mysterious lady in white, the reputed ghost of the manor, or is there a less ethereal force out to get Hetty and the precious exhibits.

Lucy is a complicated character, torn between the established social norms of the day and sudden descents into mental instability. Her growing friendship with Hetty is a highlight of the story but even that seems to struggle with the direction that it is taking. Taking a long time to get nowhere fast at times this isn’t always the most satisfying of stories but nevertheless it was enough to keep me reading and to find out exactly who or what was behind all of the strange events.

Supplied by Net Galley and Pan Macmillan in exchange for an honest review.

UK publication date: Mar 05 2020. 352 pages.

#AnimalsAtLockwood #NetGalley

In ‘The Animals at Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey’ we go back to 1939 England where we meet Hetty, a museum curator tasked to relocate taxidermized animals at the National History Museum and keep them safe during the war. If you thought that was a difficult task Hetty also has to deal with an irritating bully with a more than menacing presence who goes by the name of Lord Lockwood, the Lord of the Manor.

The plot of this novel is what really intrigued me at first, but I can say that I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. There are elements of mystery, contemporary gothic fiction, and romance all intertwined in one book. I am not usually a fan of mysteries set way back as historical references usually fly by my head, but I think this book did a great job of balancing the World War II events and the fictional plot together that it did feel like a much more interesting history lesson (though I would remind you to double check facts).

However, the one thing I enjoyed the most was Jan Healey writing style- descriptive enough that you can picture the scenes in your head, but without giving you an overload of unnecessary imagery. There is just something about the way she writes that makes the book even more atmospheric and eerie that just adds to the suspense of the plot.

Also can we take a moment to appreciate the truly stunning cover artwork by Neil Lang Designs.

3.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for a this advanced reader’s copy of ‘The Animals at Lockwood Manor’ by Jane Healey in exchange for an honest review.

"The Animals at Lockwood Manor" by Jane Healey is a novel perfect to read on the cold autumn day, in front of the roaring fire - it is a chilling story set in a creepy house where stuffed animals disappear and mysterious presence follows you through the empty rooms...

In the summer 1939, Hettie Cartwright arrives at Lockwood Manor with a selection of the most precious animals evacuated from London's natural history museum. But the Lord Lockwood is not the most welcoming host, the house is creepy with empty rooms, servants coming and going, and there are secrets, whispers and strange presence that makes Hettie nervous. There is also Lucy Lockwood, a heiress, a young woman who like her house, is full of secrets. As the war progresses, animals start disappear, mischief is done and Hetty is desperately trying to prove to herself that she is still in control of the animals and her own mind.

Jane Healey's characters are fleshed out and complicated - Hettie for example is to proud of her place in the profession, but the constant undermining her position makes her doubt her skills. The collection is not safe at Lockwood, but she doesn't ask for help, instead she plays losing battle, arrogant in her `her assumption she can manage it on her own. Is she going mad? Lucy is another complicated character, suffering from anxiety verging on a brink of agoraphobia. Her childhood and unhealthy atmosphere of her home make her delicate and emotion al, but she is also loyal and cares deeply about her home and its inhabitants.

But what I liked the most about this book was the uneasy atmosphere that the author managed to convey. The massive house with a few inhabitants and many corridors and hidden rooms to go through, long gallery and closed of museum rooms, are all described in a detail capturing a former glory of the place. Details of the animals stuffed and preserved, once again losing battle for survival as seen by Hetty's despairing eyes are evocative and mournful.. As she loses her sleep, Hetty's narrative becomes more erratic and her observations more less reliable. Lastly, the description of the party is an amazing portrait of the sickening opulence put together without thought of others by a selfish, arrogant man. There is also a sinister presence in the house - but who is walking through the rooms, watching and observing everything and everyone? Is it possible that Lockwood is haunted?

Sinister, creepy, atmospheric and full of surprises, "The Animals at Lockwood Manor" is a true gothic story, narrated with a keen eye for detail and a distinctive voice. It was an exciting and delightfully chilling read.

I enjoyed The Animals at Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey although I think is too long with some repetitions and so in places I felt it dragged a bit. It is historical fiction, part a love story and part a mystery, beginning in 1939 at the outbreak of World War Two. A taxidermy collection of mainly mammals is being evacuated from a natural history museum in London to Lockwood Manor in the countryside to save them from the threat of bombs. Owned by Major Lord Lockwood, the Lockwood estate is ancient, although most of the house had been built in the Jacobean style in the nineteenth century, with two round turrets and a pierce parapet with pinnacles. Most of its many rooms are empty as the only residents are the Major and his daughter, Lucy along with the servants, whose numbers are down as they enlist.

In charge of the collection is Hetty Cartwright, a young woman, who soon realises she had taken on more than she expected. And it’s not long before, one after another, some of the animals go missing or are mysteriously moved from their positions in the long gallery. The book begins well as the scene is set, and I could feel the tension and mystery surrounding the house and in particular surrounding Lucy and her mother, Heloise. Heloise died in a car crash not long before the book begins, but we see her in Lucy’s journal in which she writes down her nightmares, thoughts and memories.

The narration alternates between Lucy’s journal and the events as experienced by Hetty. The characters of Hetty and Lucy are well drawn as their relationship develops, and the house and the museum animals too are vividly described. I loved the details of the museum collection, and how the conditions at Lockwood affected their condition as insects invaded the stuffed creatures.

After a good start the pace then slows down and not a lot really happens until the final dramatic ending. Some of the characters are caricatured – for example the Major who is portrayed as an overbearing lecherous man, a pantomime villain. There is a more than a touch of the supernatural in the book, and a lot in it that reminded me of Jane Eyre and The Woman in White, as Hetty fears she is descending into madness. It’s the type of story that would make an excellent film or TV drama and, this is not something I usually think, would probably be better than the book.

Many thanks to Mantle for a review copy via NetGalley.

Gripping and full of suspense, this historical novel has so much substance. Both a fantastic Gothic novel and a superb war time tale, that also feels modern. I highly recommend it for fans of Sarah Waters and Michelle Paver.

I did like this for the most part but the pacing was not consistent and felt off in places. The tone was good for the most part and I liked the way the story developed. The romance aspect was a bit of a slow burn and i liked what it did. I would have like to seen some of the side characters be a little less caricaturis though.

Very clever story line that had me engrossed right from the start.
Although it is set during world war 2 it had a very gothic feel to it with a touch of voodoo as well.
Lockwood Manor holds a terrible secret which is not revealed until the very end of the book when all the strange occurrences that you have read during the book all fall into place and also their relevance.

My thanks to Pan Macmillan Mantle for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Animals of Lockwood Manor’ by Jane Healey in exchange for an honest review.

As it was published on 5 March I obtained its audiobook edition, narrated by Sarah Lambie, in order to listen alongside reading the eARC.

With the declaration of war in 1939 the fossils and taxidermy specimens of London’s natural history museum are being dispersed throughout the country to protect them from German bombs. Hetty Cartwright, the assistant keeper of the collection, arrives at Lockwood Manor with a large consignment of specimens for safekeeping.

However, Lord Lockwood is a nasty bit of work, an arrogant and lascivious bully, who makes Hetty’s time at Lockwood increasingly difficult. The servants are resentful of the extra work associated with the animals and everyone seems to have something to hide. Lucy, Lockwood’s daughter, is haunted by her mother’s death and is quite fragile. Yet she and Hetty quickly bond and she begins to emerge from her shell.

There are also rumours of curses and resident ghosts associated with the manor. Then some of the specimens go missing while others are being moved around, spooking Hetty. She suspects the culprit is no ghost but someone more corporeal with a desire to upset her.

I found this an exquisitely written novel that successfully evoked its period setting. The atmosphere of the gloomy Lockwood Manor has the sense of the centuries overlapping providing more than a touch of the Gothic. There were certainly aspects that evoked memories of ‘Jane Eyre’, though to avoid spoilers I won’t detail.

I really felt for Hetty’s battle to preserve her animals both from human vandals and from both live animal and insect damage. Naughty mice! Interspersed with Hetty’s narration are diary entries from Lucy expressing her complex relationship with her parents and her growing feelings for Hetty. Some of it makes difficult reading.

It’s novel that takes its time in developing the mystery and the tender love story at its heart. So it is one that I savoured and would happily reread.

The designers of the U.K. edition cover and binding deserve a special mention as it’s just stunning. Each chapter is headed by a small line illustration of a bird.

This is a novel that I would expect will appeal to reading groups as it contains plenty of scope for discussion as well as being highly engaging and an excellent example of historical fiction.

Certainly a very promising debut for Jane Healey and I look forward to her future projects.