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Janine_S
Coming of age in 1937 England
Coming-of-age novel set in the summer of 1937 as a young woman is swept away up by her love for a friend only to be banished. Magical realism and a bit of creepiness imbue the novel with gothic elements.
It’s a hot sweltering summer as Snare House is in full swing as the Winthers ‘s family prepares for a party to celebrate their only daughter’s (Joanie) return from her European trip before she’s off to Oxford. Margaret “Meg,” the family’s ward and Joanie’s closet friend, has other plans which get squashed when she is discovered in a compromising position. Banished to her estranged father’s house in the woods.
The story is first told in time increments as the party for is prepared and the family awaits Joanie’s arrival until the moment of Meg’s banishment. Then the story unfolds in a series vignettes denoted by a day number to cover the period of October-December 1937 when Meg lives at The Lodge. There Meg discovers her father’s eccentricities, things about her mother’s mysterious death and the mysteries of the forest. She also learns her infatuation with Joanie may not be shared.
One might question Meg’s reliability as a narrator as her time at The Lodge unfolds. She falls into a series of strange dreams and one begins to wonder if she’s just mad or is a witch. This is a character driven book and the pacing is slow - which distracted me a lot. I also questioned if that ending was real or part of Meg’s unreliability. But the writing is very good and creates beautifully itself the gothic atmosphere of the novel.
My thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for granting me access to this ARC.
