This is my first five star review I've left here, and it's so well deserved. "The Animals At Lockwood Manor" is genuinely one of the most beautiful books I have ever read, inside and out. With a thread of mystery, one of romance and one of supernatural, this historical fiction novel really comes to life.

What makes a good historical novel is there being more to a story than it being simply historical. The Animals At Lockwood Manor manages to combine the sheer perfection of a wonderful story with the dedicated efforts of a well researched historical backdrop that makes this such a wonderful read. Full of emotion and educating you along the way, this is a story that will stay with you for a long time to come. This really is a novel to relish in reading, and you will find yourself recommending it to 3everyone around you.

What is so unique about this book is that it manages to cater for so many audiences. It captures essences from various themes and creates a stunning work of literature. Whether you are fascinated with family dynamics or captivated by creatures, riveted around romance or seduced by being spooked - you will love this book.

I’m actually going to keep this review relatively brief because sadly I don’t have a lot to say about The Animals at Lockwood Manor. It’s not a story without its beautiful gems but for me there was an awful lot of soil to dig through to get to them.

First off, this is a well written book and I haven’t a gripe about the writing style at all.

Jane Healey is quite clearly a talented writer with a knack for description especially when conveying a decaying old manor desperately clung onto by the obnoxious and snobbish elite (who were also exquisitely portrayed).

The writing and the relationship between Hetty and Lucy (both characters I enjoyed) were the saving grace for me and I thought that the slow and gentle build of their relationship from friendship to romance was sensitively portrayed considering the time frame the story was set in and the difference in their social class.

It was also a welcome change for me to read a historical novel set in a period other than Victorian times and the 1940’s gives ample opportunity to explore a range of themes. It’s a time a change with the second world war in force and this story explores women’s autonomy in a changing world and yet how society still wants to retain a sense of what’s ‘traditional.’

Those were the gems.

What didn’t win me over was the story and pacing. For the first quarter I was engrossed and then, when the story was approaching the halfway mark, I realised that nothing much was happening.

We had the burgeoning relationship between Hetty and Lucy, rumours of ghosts and the irritating behaviour of Lord Lockwood who was pantomiming his villainy so hard he may as well have twirled his moustache.

The ‘exciting’ things happening i.e. the animals being moved around at night or disappearing was wrapped up by the halfway point.

Hetty was pre-occupied quite strongly with the animal collection from the museum which yes, is fitting with her character but it meant we received lengthy descriptions of the animals in their cases and the pest removal treatment Hetty was performing.

However well written those descriptions were, I didn’t need it. The story didn’t need it.

These long days at the manor were interspersed with Lucy’s diary entries where she would reminisce on the history of the manor, her childhood and current events. While I understood that these were building a picture of Lucy and the sinister past events of the manor, they read a bit like an over-dramatic Carrie Bradshaw was writing them.

Sadly for me there wasn’t much in the way of and the pace was so slow I found it glacial. There was a lot of foreshadowing that didn’t go anywhere and then the reveals at the end hardly led to an ‘ah ha!’ moment. Either because it was so obvious you saw the ‘twists’ coming or they were so poorly laid down that there was no successful foreshadowing at all.

The Animals at Lockwood Manor wasn’t for me unfortunately but this may be your thing if you love a slow burn.

What an unusual book! I really enjoyed the first few chapters of this book but it petered out in the middle and then gained momentum at the end. I'm glad that I stuck with it as, all in all, it was a plot with a difference.

I downloaded this historical novel because of the beautiful cover. I also love gothic fiction!

It's 1939 and war has broken out. Hettie Cartwright works at a natural history museum in London. As the two senior male members of staff have enlisted, she has been given the job of overseeing the evacuation of the museum's collection of stuffed animals to the country - and she's thrilled at the responsibility. However, once the collection is installed at Lockwood Manor, Hettie realises she's taken on more than she'd bargained for. The staff, taking their cue from the irritable and sexist Lord Lockwood, refuse to take her seriously. Some exhibits go missing and others are deliberately damaged, but is there something else going on behind the scene? There are rumours of a curse and the late Lady Lockwood had seen the ghost of a woman in white before she died. Meanwhile, Hettie finds herself falling under the spell of Lord Lockwood's beautiful daughter - but is Lucy all she seems to be?

I do love a good gothic mystery and The Animals at Lockwood Manor ticked all the boxes for me. A spooky old house, mysterious owner, mad woman in the attic - the twist being that Hettie falls for the enigmatic lady of the manor rather than the lord. The writing is beautiful, the setting deliciously creepy and I loved the sweet romance. The story is slow burn but with plenty of chilling moments. I think my only disappointment was that I was expecting a different ending.

Recommend to fans of gothic mysteries and authors such as Daphne du Maurier (Rebecca), Charlotte Bronte (Jane Eyre) and Sarah Waters (The Little Stranger).


Thank you to Jane Healey and Mantle (Pan Macmillan) for my copy of this book, which I requested from NetGalley and reviewed voluntarily.

Hetty Cartwright is a curator and, when we first meet her, she is planning the evacuation of the taxidermy and specimen collection of London's Natural History Museum mammal collection, bound for Lockwood Manor to be safe during WWII. Being a woman in a man's field is challenging enough but there is so much more to come when she pits her wits against the widowed Lord Lockwood. She finds a friend and ally in his daughter Lady Lucy although she herself has her own issues and is cosseted by her father; the friendship discouraged.
She appears to be fighting a losing battle in her endeavours to keep her charges safe, with them moving and even going missing, as well as some damage by Lockwood's visitors and guests. But the real story is so much more than this as the author weaves a whole host of extras into the tale; spooky goings on, madness and mental health issues, sexism and sexuality, and even a bit of a love story as we follow Hetty trying to do her job to the best of her ability in the face of adversity.
Set in a spooky Gothic mansion whose inclusion could be judged a character in its own right, so key it was to a lot of the story, and interspersed with some really interesting facts about some of the animals evacuated, this story held my attention nicely throughout although I do have to admit that, at times, it was a tad predictable and it did drag out on occasion. But it was so beautifully written that, at times, I was so captivated that these things did not bother me unduly. I especially loved the way that Hetty identified people she met with certain animals, and why!
The dialogue and character interaction was expertly executed and the underlying atmosphere of fear and dread came across very well. Lucy's own story tugged at my heartstrings and I felt for her and Hetty as they came together and hoped that they would save each other. Pacing was a little hit and miss along the way but it ramped up towards the end and delivered a shocking ending that satisfied.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

What a great good old historical suspense mystery. A slow build up, but it has enough creepy country manors, eccentric aristocrats, shadowy supernatural shenanigans and a creepy taxidermy collection to keep you turning the pages. Not quite a Gothic horror, but enough victorian-esque charm and suspense to keep you en rapt as you traverse through the pages with characters questioning their slow descent into madness... or are they? You don't always have to have a ghostly presence to be haunted.

Recommended for: bedtime reading.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishers, Pan Macmillan, for the ARC.

Beautifully written and an interesting original storyline. Even the house developed its only personality and character. It had a very satisfying ending and should have wide appeal. . .

With Sarah Waters absent from fiction since 2014’s “The Paying Guest” here comes the latest author who has incorporated the feel and themes of some of her work into their debut novel. This also reminded me slightly of Sara Collins’ 2019 debut “The Confessions Of Frannie Langton” and that as well as selling well was one of the most critically acclaimed titles of last year scoring the Costa First Novel Award. Jane Healey here has produced a commercial literary novel which has the potential to do well.
Set largely in the early years of World War II museum director Hetty Cartwright is evacuated together with a sizeable collection of stuffed mammals to Lockwood Manor where recently widowed Major Lord Lockwood lives with his daughter Lucy. Hetty has much to prove in the male world of museums and she attempts to do this professionally in this large country house populated by a dwindling staff who view the extra work caused by the displays as a nuisance. Someone begins tampering with the collection but is it human or supernatural? The Major’s wife had been turned mad by the house which had proved to be too alien for her Caribbean upbringing (shades of “Jane Eyre” and “Rebecca”) and her surviving daughter fears for her own sanity in the stifling atmosphere which proves conducive to nightmares.
Narrated alternately by Hetty and Lucy there is generally a good feel for the period but I think the author could have ramped up the tension of life in the house but as the novel progresses I feel that this is lost a little with the focus moving to the relationship of the two leading female characters (incidentally, I felt exactly the same about “Frannie Langton.”)
I found it easy to read, polished it off quite quickly and was involved throughout and enjoyed the turns of the plot but it never managed to crank up to the higher gear which would have made this more memorable. For me the standout book I’ve read in recent years of this type is still Laura Carlin’s “The Wicked Cometh” and as diverting as this is I don’t think it came up to that debut’s standard.

Firstly, this is such a STUNNING cover, by Neil Lang Designs, that has both obvious and subtle links to the content of this beautifully gothic and nostalgic story centred around a deteriorating manor house and a treasured museum collection of mammals & birds.

I was enraptured with this Gothic delight, it is part ghost story, part romance, part historical capturing the essence of rural life in the 1940's during World War 2. How villages used to very little change had to adapt and evolve almost overnight to evacuees and other arrivals, as well as men leaving for the war.

Jane Healey cleverly weaves in the historical changes for women that WW2 helped emerge: the aspirations of some women to do more than marry and raise children, the ability to pursue careers even within traditionally male fields, and the beginnings of sexual liberation and revolution.

This book is atmospheric, full of suspense with just teases of mysteries and secrets unknown as Hetty begins to become acquainted with the manor house and it's inhabitants. Lucy and Hetty's connection was a joy to read, I felt deeply the loneliness Lucy clearly had and hated her father (Lord Lockwood) with his entitled attitude and oblivious nature to Lucy, both her capabilities and her hurt. 

With things soon going awry as Hetty's prized collection suffers losses, Hetty also struggles with recurring nightmares, visions and a sense of paranoia that threatens her position at Lockwood as well as her future.

Secrets of cruelty, betrayal, wickedness and revenge seep through the manor house and yet there is a counterbalance of passion and devotion. The delicate and endangered nature of the creatures in Hetty's collection reflect the precarious balance of secrets and appearances of life in Lockwood, and as everything begins to unravel, something dangerous and yet magical is released.

This book is an exquisite piece of storytelling that is just as impressive as its cover. It leaves you captured in its disturbing vision and breathless with what ultimately concludes.
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It is not long since the second world war has broken out with the threat to London becoming a target for a bombing campaign being imminent. The National History Museum make the decision to ship their collections to various parts of the country that can house some of the rare items. The mammal collection is to be transported to Lockwood Manor along with 30-year-old Hetty Cartwright to keep it safe and secure. This is quite a responsible position for a woman, who are normally employed on a volunteer role only. One wrong move could cost Hetty the career that she longs for.
Lord Lockwood isn't the easiest of men to get on with and clearly has a disrespect for women. When some of the animals go missing Hetty is frantic that she will be sacked and neither Lord Lockwood or the Housekeeper is any help. Hetty strikes a friendship up with Lucy, Lord Lockwood's beautiful daughter, putting on yet another very dangerous path.
The forces of nature seem to be working against Hetty as much as Lord Lockwood himself with the added complication of her own hormones running pretty steamy herself.
This is the author's debut novel so I was really impressed. The time period seemed to be captured spot on with the women being "allowed" to take on higher position roles in the workplace that in peacetime were thought of as something they weren't capable of doing. The story has that edgy feel about it where you are waiting for something to go wrong at every turn. Quite a surprising end for me.
I wish to thank NetGalley and the publisher for an e-copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly.

The premise of this book is very much in the same vein as The Silent Companions or The Miniaturist, so if you enjoyed the mystery (and creepy moving objects) elements of those books, I would recommend this one.
What makes this book different to those however (apart from it being a bit less gothic/haunting- just generally have a lighter atmosphere) was its romance, which despite feeling a little too easy at times, was tastefully written and enjoyable (and isn't stereotypical, yay).
There were a few darker events and secrets revealed later in the story which were more of what I was hoping to read when I started this, but for people looking for deeper chills, this is maybe not the right tale. That's not to say it doesn't have its spooky moments, though.
I was very impressed by the consistency and flow of the writing, especially considering this is a debut full-length novel from someone who has previously been a short-story writer! Prose is clearly a strength for this author. I will look forward to their next book.
Thanks to Netgalley and Jane Healey for an ARC of this book!

<i>The Animals at Lockwood Manor</i> is an atmospheric gothic novel from debut author Jane Healey. Set during World War II in an English country house, it contains all the genre’s staples – supernatural disturbances, hidden rooms, spooky dreams, dark family secrets – along with a good helping of sapphic romance. If you’ve ever read <i>Jane Eyre</i> and thought “OK, but what if Jane fell in love with Bertha Mason instead?”, then this is one for you!

When the Natural History Museum’s collections are evacuated during the London Blitz, a menagerie of taxidermied mammals are sent to Lockwood Manor – along with their newly-promoted director, Hetty Cartwright. What with the manor’s imperfect storage conditions, the creepy atmosphere, the unwelcoming servants, and Major Lockwood’s sexist arrogance, Hetty would have enough trouble keeping her collection in order. But then some of the animals start to go missing.

While Hetty investigates who’s responsible for her missing charges, she grows closer to the Major’s delicate daughter Lucy. Lucy’s mother and grandmother both passed away recently in a horrible car accident, causing Lucy’s childhood nightmares and sleepwalking to relapse. In her dreams, she wanders the house, desperately searching for a room that doesn’t exist, and remembering her mother’s warnings about <i>la diablesse</i> – a devil-woman in white who haunts the manor.

The romance between Hetty and Lucy is slow to build, and it’s touching to watch them slowly discover their attraction to one another. Healey is a master at ‘show don’t tell’ when it comes to her characters’ feelings.

And how could I review this without mentioning the eponymous animals? The taxidermied collection in Hetty’s care are characters in their own right: the truant panther, the faded hummingbirds, the towering polar bear. Hetty worries about them constantly, and you feel invested in their welfare too.

Then there are the human animals. Throughout the novel, Hetty compares other characters to the creatures in her care: Lucy is a cat, the housekeeper is a Rüppell's fox, one of the maids is a chipmunk. This adds a fun flare to character descriptions, but also reflects that people can be just as beastly as animals – particularly Hetty’s host, Major Lockwood.

The Major is a wonderfully dislikable antagonist. He reminds me of gothic leading men like Rochester, Heathcliffe, or Maxim de Winter. Except that instead of asking us to believe he’s actually a romantic love interest (despite his patriarchal beliefs, violent temper, and mysteriously dead wife), Healey lets him be the villain of the piece. As someone who always wants gothic heroines to realise how awful their leading men are, I appreciate a novel that finally gives me what I’m looking for!

I’m a big fan of gothic literature, so I was delighted by Healey’s inclusion of so many classic gothic elements. If there’s a gothic trope you can think of, it’s probably in this book. Despite this, the story doesn’t feel predictable or formulaic – the tropes are thrown in more like nods to Healey’s predecessors. You can feel the influence of <i>Jane Eyre</i> (fun fact: Healey was named after her), <i>Rebecca</i>, <i>The Haunting of Hill House</i>, Angela Carter, <i>The Woman in White</i> – and probably a load more that I’ve missed on my first reading.

If you’re a fan of gothic or historical fiction – particularly authors like Sarah Waters, Laura Purcell, and Daphne du Maurier – then I would highly recommend <i>The Animals at Lockwood Manor</i>. It’s a tense, claustrophobic read, full of opulent descriptions and chilling twists.

This is a beautifully written book.

Due to the war effort, Hetty Cartwright finds herself promoted in her job at the museum and is put directly in charge of the moving, and safekeeping of the mammal section of the national history museum from London to the countryside, specifically Lockwood Manor until the war ends and London is safe again.

It's not long before she hears the stories of the ghost and family madness, and with the servants hating her for the additional work the museum has brought them, she finds a friend in Lord Lockwood's fragile daughter.

As the days go on Hetty has to deal items moving, thefts, and with Lord Lockwood and his brutish behaviour towards everyone. Slowly secrets start to come out that have remained hidden for years.

I really enjoyed this book.

My thanks to Netgallley and Pan Macmillan

To protect the museum animal specimens during World War 2 bombings, Hetty Cartwright has been tasked with moving as many of the transportable exhibits to Lockwood Manor.  Upon their arrival, Lord Lockwood proves to be instantly disagreeable while his daughter Lucy enthusiastically welcomes Hetty and her animals.  It isn't long before Hetty notices strange events, starting with the disappearance of a jaguar, start happening, stories of the ghost of Lockwood emerge as well as accusations that nothing of this sort happened before Hetty and her museum collection arrived.

First off, I loved the premise of this book, I don't know if evacuating museums is something that actually happened (probably should have checked before writing this) but it's such an interesting setup for historical fiction and perfect to bring these characters together, there's a great contrast and similarities between Hetty and Lucy; both single later than life than would have been expected at the time but treated very differently for it.  Their relationship was my favourite thing about this book particularly as it wasn't something I expected going into it.

The novel comes to a head during a meal Lord Lockwood organises to showcase the specimens he's been keeping at the manor; while initially against the idea Hetty is persuaded on the basis that some of the guests are likely to go on from the meal to donate to the museum after the war.  The pace of the book took a complete turn in the last chapters and I couldn't put it down; I wasn't expecting any of the revelations they came out and for me they made the book make so much more sense however because of that I really wanted them to have played out more.

Overall I enjoyed it, a little slow-paced for the most part but I enjoyed the setting and thought the characters and their relationships and its the sort of story I think could be wonderfully adapted for a Sunday night BBC series.

In British wartime fiction, children are not the only evacuees which end up on huge estates where strange things have a tendency to happen. In Jane Healey’s debut novel, museum director and zoologist Hetty Cartwright transports a collection of mammals from the capital to what she hopes is safety at a country house. Lockwood Manor is home to a dwindling number of servants, disappearing at intervals to join the war effort, the aloof Major Lockwood, his beautiful and haunted daughter Lucy, and, allegedly, a wandering ghost. Despite the emptiness of the house, Hetty’s animals begin to disappear. She clashes with Lord Lockwood, who is apathetic to the point of suspicion, while becoming increasingly seduced by Lucy.

The Animals at Lockwood Manor is a work which wears its influences on its sleeve, to its detriment. The setting, the prose, and the characters are so reminiscent of works such as Jane Eyre, Rebecca, and The Big Sleep that there is an unfortunate lack of originality that persists throughout the novel. The problem with texts that are so heavily reliant on older, better works is that one finds oneself more compelled to pick up the books that inspired Lockwood than to persist in reading the novel that is in front of you. Rebecca, for instance, borrows much from Jane Eyre. The difference is that Rebecca is so excellent on its own that its influences no longer matter. Such is not the case for The Animals at Lockwood Manor. There is nothing different or imposing about the manor itself – even the hidden room in the attic, its only chance at a genuinely interesting characteristic, is pushed from the reader’s peripheral in order to make way for Hetty and Lucy’s romance. Lord Lockwood and Lucy are cut-and-paste noir staples, and Lord Lockwood’s generic villainy is especially disappointing. I wish that more time and care had been taken to develop their respective personalities, if only to elevate what is at its core a stereotypical noir mystery with slightly tweaked victims. Replace the disappearing animals with people, and Hetty with a similarly snippy white man, and you have a Bogie and Bacall B-movie. Perfectly acceptable in the ‘forties, to be sure, but quite uninspired in the 21st century.

If the novel had to have one interesting character to carry the rest of the cast, it would be reasonable to assume that it would have to be the protagonist. Luckily, Hetty Cartwright is able to pull her weight. She’s self-assured, intelligent, and, for me personally, relatable in her passable androgyny. The slow development of her romantic feelings towards Lucy had the potential to make for a successful LGBT+ narrative, but is scuttled in my estimation by some pretty harmful rhetoric relayed to the reader by Hetty and Lucy themselves. There are a couple of moments in the novel which make for uncomfortable reading, such as when Hetty expresses her surprise at the fact that lesbian women are capable of being “ordinary,” like herself and Lucy, and when Lucy says that she looks for “mannish” women in hopes that she will find someone like herself and Hetty. I will give Healey the benefit of the doubt here and assume that she was attempting to illustrate the more general depictions of lesbian women in the time period, but this endeavour categorically fails. To have such bigoted sentiments come from the protagonists not once, but twice, with no inclination that such stereotypes are harmful, is baffling to me. Those words should not be coming from the very people in whom we are supposed to place our support, especially not in a wlw narrative, unless overcoming self-shame is a key part of their character development. They should be coming from someone like Lord Lockwood, or, preferably, as they do not enhance the plot or characters in any way, removed altogether. Let’s just say that when I did some digging and found that the author was in a heterosexual relationship, I was not surprised.

The potential that this novel has, and the ease with which that potential could have been met with only a bit more care and attention, only increases my disappointment.

Part mystery and part romance with a hint of gothic.
What is the secret of Lockwood manor, who is messing around with the taxidermy animals that were taken there to be safe?
Really enjoyed reading this and I had no idea how the book was going to end, but loved it.
I think this is the first book by Jane Healey and I hope she will write more like this, I will certainly be looking forward to reading more by her.

Hetty is put in charge of relocating the Mammals from the British museum to Lockwood Manor and over seeing their upkeep during the war.

Lockwood is a strange place with animals being moved and going missing, giving Hetty nightmares and generally making her feel like she is going mad. The old house holds many secrets and Lucy the lady of the house is of an anxious nature. Yet the two form a close friendship.

The Animals at Lockwood Manor ticked all of my boxes with its World War 2 setting, a dark gothic house and its slow burning, queer love story.

Jane Healey's descriptive writing style has strong cinematic qualities. Through the controlled, slow pace of the book she builds a tense atmosphere and feeling of anxiety through evocative visual descriptions of the manor and the characters. I found myself reading on at the end of each chapter as the mystery of the house began to reveal itself.

With queer women often written out of history I adored the developing relationship between Hetty and Lucy, which played an important role in highlighting the hidden relationships that many women had during the 1940's and creating a contrast to the patriarchal nature of many of the men in the book.

The Animals at Lockwood Manor is definitely the type of novel to read on a dark, blustery winter's day to really immerse yourself into the world of Lockwood Manor and its many animal mysteries. A must for historical fiction fans and lovers of Sarah Waters books!

In the early days of the Second World War newly promoted Hetty Cartwright and her charges are evacuated from London to the safety of Lockwood Manor.  But the group of evacuees Hetty is caring for are not children, they are the stuffed and mounted exhibits from the mammals section of the National History Museum.  Following a recent family tragedy only Major Lord Cartwright and his daughter Lucy reside at the house now, together with a smattering of staff.  Although Lockwood Manor has plenty of space to take in the exhibits and Hetty they are not exactly welcomed with open arms.  The house is still in mourning and the Major and some of the staff are bristly and unwelcoming.  Only Lady Lucy Lockwood seems happy to have Hetty and her collection in the house.  Although Hetty manages to get her animals reasonably settled in the empty rooms of Lockwood Manor, it is not long before some unpleasant events and thefts begin to happen.  But Hetty gets little sympathy from most of the staff who think Hetty is overreacting, and some staff simply blame the Manor's alleged ghost.  Thank goodness Hetty has Lucy and their blossoming friendship to turn to in her distress. 

This is a wonderful, beautifully written Gothic mystery.  I loved the details about the stuffed animals and how Hetty likened members of the household and visitors to different creatures.  A very enjoyable read with great atmosphere and attention to detail, and a very sweet romance.

Hetty has been sent to Lockwood Manor with all the stuffed animals from a London Museum for the duration of the war.
She has an unenviable job keeping the animals safe from both Lord Lockwood and the servants as well as mice and other predators.
In the midst of all this is Lucy, Lord Lockwood's daughter. Having recently lost both her grandmother and mother to a suspicious car accident , she is clearly struggling.
Hetty finds herself getting closer and closer to Lucy but still doesn't understand why she is so upset and traumatized.
A story of secrets, madness and love.