Sophia Tobin’s
third novel is a gothic thriller with shades of Jane Eyre, Jamaica Inn and
Sarah Waters’ Fingersmith.
Annaleigh has
accepted the position of Housekeeper at White Windows in Yorkshire .
Determined to begin anew, Annaleigh is shocked to discover that White Windows
is much more remote than she had anticipated, that the servants are truculent
and the owners mysterious. Brought up in bustling London Annaleigh was a
foundling brought up by a painter and his wife she had anticipated a different
life believing herself to be part of Mr. Calvert’s family but when love seemed
to blossom between his stepson and adopted daughter Mr. Calvert is happy to
have Annaleigh move away. Broken hearted and apparently without family Annaleigh
quickly becomes fascinated by her darkly mysterious new employer Mr. Twentyman.
The parallels between The Vanishing and Jane Eyre are obvious; the educated
young woman fallen on hard times, the brooding hero, the gothic setting of the
big house and the remoteness of the Yorkshire Moors but what could easily be a
pastiche becomes in the careful hands of a skillful writer a wonderful homage
and a clever reworking.
Also and perhaps
more importantly Sophia Tobin has addressed the issue of women’s lack of rights
in the period and the power and manipulation that men wielded to control them.
Either as daughters, wives or servants women were essentially property without
rights to their own bodies, their belongings or their children. A fast paced and wonderfully written gothic thriller which will appeal to Bront
First published in The Historical Novel Review issue 79 (Feb 2017) as an Editor's Choice.
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