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nina_reads_books 's review for:
The Animals at Lockwood Manor
by Jane Healey
The Animals at Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey is a mysterious, gothic, historical fiction set at the start of WW2. Thirty year old Hetty Cartwright is the curator of the taxidermy mammal collection at the London Natural History Museum. To protect the extensive collection from bombings it is evacuated to Lockwood Manor in the English countryside and Hetty is sent to live in the Manor to oversee the collection’s safety.
Hetty is an unusual, socially awkward woman. She is obsessed with the mammals in her care and determined to succeed in protecting them to ensure that she protects her ongoing employment. But immediately after the collection’s arrival one of the large jaguars disappears which is just the start of a number of perplexing and disturbing happenings related to the collection.
The owner of the Manor Lord Lockwood is an abrupt, overbearing man who clearly doesn’t like Hetty, while his daughter Lucy is fragile and suffers from nightmares. Soon Lucy and Hetty become friends and eventually form a romantic relationship.
As more animals disappear or are damaged and more eerie things happen, there is an increasing feeling of danger and Hetty feels as though her grip on reality is loosening. Lucy is also clearly suffering with traumatic memories but what has happened to affect her in such a way?
While I have not read any gothic novels I kind of felt like this was gothic-lite. The atmosphere, descriptions and eerie happenings all contributed to a moody feeling but it wasn’t as creepy as it might have been. The uncovering of the family secrets and the climatic ending was handled pretty well but overall the story was very slow moving.
The narrative switches between Hetty and Lucy in alternating chapters but I’m not sure this was entirely successful as their voices are fairly similar. I will say that the writing is lovely and descriptive and I certainly felt that the Manor and its occupants (including the animals) were vividly drawn.
This book falls into the like but not love category for me.
Hetty is an unusual, socially awkward woman. She is obsessed with the mammals in her care and determined to succeed in protecting them to ensure that she protects her ongoing employment. But immediately after the collection’s arrival one of the large jaguars disappears which is just the start of a number of perplexing and disturbing happenings related to the collection.
The owner of the Manor Lord Lockwood is an abrupt, overbearing man who clearly doesn’t like Hetty, while his daughter Lucy is fragile and suffers from nightmares. Soon Lucy and Hetty become friends and eventually form a romantic relationship.
As more animals disappear or are damaged and more eerie things happen, there is an increasing feeling of danger and Hetty feels as though her grip on reality is loosening. Lucy is also clearly suffering with traumatic memories but what has happened to affect her in such a way?
While I have not read any gothic novels I kind of felt like this was gothic-lite. The atmosphere, descriptions and eerie happenings all contributed to a moody feeling but it wasn’t as creepy as it might have been. The uncovering of the family secrets and the climatic ending was handled pretty well but overall the story was very slow moving.
The narrative switches between Hetty and Lucy in alternating chapters but I’m not sure this was entirely successful as their voices are fairly similar. I will say that the writing is lovely and descriptive and I certainly felt that the Manor and its occupants (including the animals) were vividly drawn.
This book falls into the like but not love category for me.