After growing up on a farm in Virginia, Walthingham Hall in England seems like another world to sixteen year old Katherine Randolph. Her new life, filled with the splendor of upper-class England in the 1820s, is shattered when her brother mysteriously drowns. Katherine is expected to observe the mourning customs and get on with her life, but she can't accept that her brother's death was an accident. A bitter poacher prowls the estate, and strange visitors threaten the occupants of the house. There's a rumour, too, that a wild animal stalks the woods of Walthingham. Can Katherine retain her sanity long enough to find out the truth? Or will her brother's killer claim her life, too? This Gothic murder mystery is filled with history, psychological suspense, and all the trappings of Downton Abbey.After growing up on a farm in Virginia, Walthingham Hall in England seems like another world to sixteen year old Katherine Randolph. Her new life, filled with the splendor of upper-class England in the 1820s, is shattered when her brother mysteriously drowns.
Katherine is expected to observe the mourning customs and get on with her life, but she can't accept that her brother's death was an accident. A bitter poacher prowls the estate, and strange visitors threaten the occupants of the house. There's a rumour, too, that a wild animal stalks the woods of Walthingham. Can Katherine retain her sanity long enough to find out the truth? Or will her brother's killer claim her life, too? This Gothic murder mystery is filled with history, psychological suspense, and all the trappings of Downton Abbey.
The Gilded Cage is an atmospheric thriller set in the Regency era. Best for fans of thrillers, this book centers around the strange happenings at Walthingham Hall. While Katherine is our heroine, we don't fully get to dive into her character as we may have liked. The focus centers largely on who killed her brother.
Long-time readers of thrillers likely won't be surprised by any turn of events, although that didn't stop The Gilded Cage from being an interesting book---something that would likely make a good movie or TV adaptation. We're dropped into Katherine's life without much context, given facts (like her animal companion Stella) and little more (Stella's animal identity isn't revealed until page 95).
But this lack of character depth is perhaps a good thing---despite the recent fortune, Katherine's life hasn't been an easy one. An orphan, then sibling-less, she's forced into a world far different from anything she's ever known. The Gilded Cage isn't fraught with what we might consider the "typical" angst of YA novels. (Even if we do get a love triangle.)
Instead, we're drawn into the occurrences at Walthingham Hall and its grounds. Leaving us to wonder who's really behind it all---and whether Katherine will suffer a similar fate.
