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sophiemartin's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Toxic friendship, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Child death, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Stalking, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Infertility, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Abortion
suneaters's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I really enjoyed this! I liked reading each perspective and I was desperate to find out what “really” happened to Harriet. The suspects were all pretty shady, though to be honest it was always pretty obvious who is was. Yes, Harriet could out the lesbian schoolteacher, but Miss Frances is clearly not a murderer and cared deeply for Harriet, even if they didn’t work out. Tom Churcher is clearly in love with Harriet and with his own shakiness, I doubt he’d be able to keep such a secret as killing a woman directly, and the other guy—Richard—was too far away. Of course it’s the shady preacher George Verral who is always talking to himself in his narration and is apparently a serial sexual abuser. He seems to think these women are coming on to him from his narration, but Harriet’s diary casts doubt on his narrative. I thought, well it isn’t too obvious to be him? Maybe if really is Miss Williams and the Reverend is a red herring? Or maybe even Tom or Richard Field! Even in his letter to Richard he sounded suspicious. So it kind of felt like a cop out that it’s actually his wife who poisoned her. Like, lady why not poison your serial rapist husband instead of the girl he abused? Either way, it was still a good story that felt historically accurate and plausible. It’s sad that in real life Harriet’s murder was never solved, though I’m sure the responsible party was likely the father of Harriet’s unborn child.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Murder, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Pregnancy and Abortion
tina94's review
dark
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
The composition was really strange, going from ultra short chapters/parts to extremely long ones, repeating everything over and over (not only from all the different povs but within the story too with the two inquest meetings??? what was the point?), and just being bland (nothing really distinguishing between the povs), cruel, and unexciting. The ending/epilogue was the most infuriating - WHY would the disgusting rapist abuser get the final word??? Ugh.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Death, Medical content, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Infidelity
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