1867. Eliza Caine arrives in Norfolk to take up her position as governess at Gaudlin Hall on a dark and chilling night. As she makes her way across the station platform, a pair of invisible hands push her from behind into the path of an approaching train. She is only saved by the vigilance of a passing doctor. When she finally arrives, shaken, at the hall she is greeted by the two children in her care, Isabella and Eustace. There are no parents, no adults at all, and no one to represent her mysterious employer. The children offer no explanation. Later that night in her room, a second terrifying experience further reinforces the sense that something is very wrong. From the moment she rises the following morning, her every step seems dogged by a malign presence which lives within Gaudlin's walls. Eliza realises that if she and the children are to survive its violent attentions, she must first uncover the hall's long-buried secrets and confront the demons of its past.
This novel grabbed my attention from the very first sentence. It took a few chapters to build up Eliza Caine’s backstory and explain what led her to becoming a governess at Gaudlin Hall, while at the same time setting up the times in which she lived in. Once Eliza arrives at Gaudlin Hall, the mystery and suspense kicks into the story. This House is Haunted is psychologically suspenseful; I found myself speculating and thinking up possibilities explaining what was going on at Gaudlin Hall and what happened to Isabella and Eustace’s parents.
There are some really creepy elements in this novel: Isabella alone made up a good bulk of that creepiness (aside from the house itself, whose decay reminded me of the state of the ancestral home in Sarah Waters’ The Little Stranger) with her strange behaviour and sudden change in moods. The revelation behind what really happened to the Westerlys, as relayed by the family lawyer somewhere midway in the novel, was probably the creepiest moment (for me) in the book.
Overall, I enjoyed This House is Haunted, it’s a nice homage to the classic Gothic ghost stories and dramas. Moreso, I think it would make a fantastic movie adaptation. Readers of Gothic novels, ghost stories and just novels with an eerie atmosphere will enjoy this title.
You can read this review in its entirety over at caffeinatedlife.net: http://www.caffeinatedlife.net/blog/2013/10/03/review-this-house-is-haunted/
