Fiercombe Manor
Summary (from the publisher): In this haunting and richly imagined dual-narrative tale that echoes the eerie mystery of Rebecca and The Little Stranger, two women of very different eras are united by the secrets hidden within the walls of an English manor house.
In 1933, naïve twenty-two year-old Alice—pregnant and unmarried—is in disgrace. Her mother banishes her from London to secluded Fiercombe Manor in rural Gloucestershire, where she can hide under the watchful eye of her mother’s old friend, the housekeeper Mrs. Jelphs. The manor’s owners, the Stantons, live abroad, and with her cover story of a recently-deceased husband Alice can have her baby there before giving it up for adoption and returning home. But as Alice endures the long, hot summer at Fiercombe awaiting the baby’s birth, she senses that something is amiss with the house and its absentee owners.
Thirty years earlier, pregnant Lady Elizabeth Stanton desperately hopes for the heir her husband desires. Tormented by the memory of what happened after the birth of her first child, a daughter, she grows increasingly terrified that history will repeat itself, with devastating consequences.
After meeting Tom, the young scion of the Stanton family, Alice becomes determined to uncover the clan’s tragic past and exorcise the ghosts of this idyllic, isolated house. But nothing can prepare Alice for what she uncovers. Soon it is her turn to fear: can she escape the tragic fate of the other women who have lived in the Fiercombe valley.
In 1933, naïve twenty-two year-old Alice—pregnant and unmarried—is in disgrace. Her mother banishes her from London to secluded Fiercombe Manor in rural Gloucestershire, where she can hide under the watchful eye of her mother’s old friend, the housekeeper Mrs. Jelphs. The manor’s owners, the Stantons, live abroad, and with her cover story of a recently-deceased husband Alice can have her baby there before giving it up for adoption and returning home. But as Alice endures the long, hot summer at Fiercombe awaiting the baby’s birth, she senses that something is amiss with the house and its absentee owners.
Thirty years earlier, pregnant Lady Elizabeth Stanton desperately hopes for the heir her husband desires. Tormented by the memory of what happened after the birth of her first child, a daughter, she grows increasingly terrified that history will repeat itself, with devastating consequences.
After meeting Tom, the young scion of the Stanton family, Alice becomes determined to uncover the clan’s tragic past and exorcise the ghosts of this idyllic, isolated house. But nothing can prepare Alice for what she uncovers. Soon it is her turn to fear: can she escape the tragic fate of the other women who have lived in the Fiercombe valley.
Review: I received an uncorrected proof copy of this book from HarperCollins.
Reminiscent of Kate Morton's novels, but far more atmospheric and eerie, this novel is a dual narrative from the perspective of two women, whose lives converge at Fiercombe Manor. In 1933, Alice has wound up pregnant by a married man and her parents send her away from London to Fiercombe Manor to have her baby in secret. While there she slowly begins to uncover the mystery of a previous mistress of the estate, Lady Elizabeth Stanton. The novel is told in alternating chapters from the first person perspective of Alice in the 1930s and third person perspective of Elizabeth in 1898. As Alice is increasingly disturbed by unnatural experiences and finds more and more in common with the mysterious Elizabeth, she continues to wonder what happened to Elizabeth and if the estate is cursed.
Early on in Alice's stay, Fiercombe Manor itself seems haunted by its unhappy past. The Stanton family is rarely in residence and much of the house seems rundown and abandoned. Stairways and rooms are closed off. The garden and yews are so overgrown as to block sunlight. Even more mysteriously, Alice has strange dreams and senses otherworldly presences: "I instinctively held my breath. There were no more creaks, but in the lull I realized the sound of breathing hadn't stopped" (85). Oddly, clocks refuse to continue running in the house. "There was a grandfather clock in the hallway, but when I got to it, the pendulum was still, the hands stuck at precisely three o'clock. I sensed, with no evidence or way of confirming it, that it had stopped at three in the morning, not the afternoon" (77).
Riordan has created a great fictional historical setting for her story, and included specific historical details - including things like the widespread treatment of women for hysteria and the practice of postmortem photography of the time. I liked that the two narratives almost converge as the novel progresses and as Alice uncovers more and more of Elizabeth's story, including her diary. The lone occupants of Fiercombe Manor in the 1930s, Mrs. Jelphs and Ruck, appear in Elizabeth's narrative as much younger house servants. However, I felt that Alice was rather obstinate in her perseverance in going exactly where Mrs. Jelphs and Ruck told her expressly not to go. And she seemed to forever be climbing dangerous and/or abandoned stairs, which isn't exactly wise, particularly for a pregnant woman. Additionally, in some ways Mrs. Jelphs and Ruck felt like stock characters, merely there to forbid Alice's movements and refuse to tell her anything about the estate's history, propelling the narrative onward for Alice to discover it on her own.
Additionally, I thought Alice's cover story of a recently and tragically killed husband was blatantly transparent. Although no one seems to question it, they certainly treat her as though she was never married - for example, Tom attempting to kiss her and Nan teasing Alice about her interest in Tom. It seemed like odd behavior towards a supposedly recently widowed pregnant woman.
Although I felt the narrative dragged a bit towards the middle and had a somewhat too tidily happily ever after ending (at least for Alice), I truly enjoyed this piece of suspenseful historical fiction.
Stars: 3.5
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