A spell for all kate1/11/2024 ![]() ‘With your skin you’d look like a queen in black.’ “ ” ‘A pity there hasn’t been a death in the family,’ said Kate. That said, the element that I enjoyed the most was the atmospheric Gothic touch that turns nearly everything from Cathy’s childhood slightly sinister. Though so many of the details are eerie and unusual, its a fairly straightforward story of one girl’s quest for adulthood. Much of the book has a very Gothic feel- it’s not a high-tension mystery or supernatural fright fest, so don’t enter this one expecting Daphne du Maurier or Shirley Jackson. “My grandfather had turned my parents into shadows, and, as far as I knew, everybody had agreed to it.”ĭespite the word “winter” in the title, this is an excellent book to reach for at the height of spooky season (it would also be great for winter, of course). It’s a tragic tale of the lasting effects one person’s actions can have on another, and of coming of age in a rapidly changing world. Raised by an emotionally distant grandfather with particular ideas for their futures and by overly-involved house staff, Cathy and Rob form a close bond- perhaps too close- that causes further emotional fracturing as the two finally reach adulthood and gain a wider sense of the world than they had ever known in the manor. Her family is falling apart as fast as the manor they live in, leaving Cathy and her brother Rob to parse rumors and secrets for the truth of their missing parents. In the novel, Cathy narrates the story of her upbringing in a remote part of England on the cusp of WWI. ![]() I buddy read this one with some amazing bloggers, and suggest you check out their reviews as well! Here are the links for: Callum, Rachel, Naty, Sarah (review pending) and Hannah (review pending – I’ll update these links as reviews appear)! My journey through the Women’s Prize winners list continued this month with Helen Dunmore’s A Spell of Winter, my first Dunmore read and the very first novel to win the Women’s Prize (back when it was called the Orange Prize). CW: rape, incest, parental abandonment, animal (horse) injury, death of loved ones, abortion
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