A satisfying Victorian mystery with a redemptive message.
The House at the End of the Moor by Michelle Griep
One can't help but detect the Jane Eyre melody that hums in the background of this story. Nor would I have been surprised to hear the refrains of Kate Bush singing "Wuthering Heights". At the very least the Hounds of the Baskervilles should have been howling their way across the inhospitable moors.
This gothic type story by Griep is both atmospheric and gripping, creating a wealth of intricate responses and reflections from the various characters .
This is a prodigal son story with a twist. It's 1861 and Oliver Ward has been incarcerated at the legendary Dartmoor Prison in Devon. It's a Dickensian penal institution with brutal guards. One being Constable Sebastian Barrow, a merciless officer, a man's whose faith is rigid and unforgiving.
Oliver, formerly a minister of the crown has been accused of stealing a ruby necklace. Son to a prominent solicitor, he has never reconciled that his father did nothing to help him during his trial.
On the edge of the moors lives a mysterious widow, Nora, a woman of faith and grace, but seemingly in hiding. A woman with secrets and palpable fears.
When Oliver escapes, everything will coalesce around the woman on the edge of the moors, and the vicious guard who feels he is doing God's will in much the same way as the inquisitors' did. The key to Oliver's freedom is an opera singer Daisy Lee. The search for Daisy will bring unsuspected threads together.
I found the story intriguing and complex with a host of characters who have a depth to them that give them presence.
I see Christian motifs throughout relating as I said previously to the prodigal son, the Good Samaratin, honoring one's parents, with some "get thee behind me Satan" moments. There's bountiful moments of justice, grace and love.
I was particularly repulsed by Daisy's agent, the disgusting Wendall Groat. Even Barrow had odd feelings about Groat. We're told Groat caused, "a cold shiver [to spider] down Sebastian’s spine." If even the hardened Barrow can be affected that way, then there's something very amiss with Groat.
As I've said before about Grieps writing's, "I am quite comfortable with the way Griep integrates her Christian faith into the plot. I feel the characters' beliefs are appropriately portrayed without being contrived and without being imposed over the story line. All flows quite naturally out of the events the characters experience."
The story easily held my interest. The reuniting of Oliver with his father built up beautifully even as doubts still surrounded his innocence.
Another gem from Griep.
A Barbour ARC via NetGalley
*****
This gothic type story by Griep is both atmospheric and gripping, creating a wealth of intricate responses and reflections from the various characters .
This is a prodigal son story with a twist. It's 1861 and Oliver Ward has been incarcerated at the legendary Dartmoor Prison in Devon. It's a Dickensian penal institution with brutal guards. One being Constable Sebastian Barrow, a merciless officer, a man's whose faith is rigid and unforgiving.
Oliver, formerly a minister of the crown has been accused of stealing a ruby necklace. Son to a prominent solicitor, he has never reconciled that his father did nothing to help him during his trial.
On the edge of the moors lives a mysterious widow, Nora, a woman of faith and grace, but seemingly in hiding. A woman with secrets and palpable fears.
When Oliver escapes, everything will coalesce around the woman on the edge of the moors, and the vicious guard who feels he is doing God's will in much the same way as the inquisitors' did. The key to Oliver's freedom is an opera singer Daisy Lee. The search for Daisy will bring unsuspected threads together.
I found the story intriguing and complex with a host of characters who have a depth to them that give them presence.
I see Christian motifs throughout relating as I said previously to the prodigal son, the Good Samaratin, honoring one's parents, with some "get thee behind me Satan" moments. There's bountiful moments of justice, grace and love.
I was particularly repulsed by Daisy's agent, the disgusting Wendall Groat. Even Barrow had odd feelings about Groat. We're told Groat caused, "a cold shiver [to spider] down Sebastian’s spine." If even the hardened Barrow can be affected that way, then there's something very amiss with Groat.
As I've said before about Grieps writing's, "I am quite comfortable with the way Griep integrates her Christian faith into the plot. I feel the characters' beliefs are appropriately portrayed without being contrived and without being imposed over the story line. All flows quite naturally out of the events the characters experience."
The story easily held my interest. The reuniting of Oliver with his father built up beautifully even as doubts still surrounded his innocence.
Another gem from Griep.
A Barbour ARC via NetGalley
*****
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