Stormcrow Castle [Hardcover]

Amanda Grange (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2007

On visiting Stormcrow Castle, Helena Carlisle is disturbed to find that her aunt, the housekeeper, has disappeared. Helena takes on the role of the new housekeeper and it is not long before strange incidents begin to unnerve her. The castle's owner, Simon, Lord Torkrow, frequents the graveyard at night; the portrait gallery conceals a secret room; identities are hidden at a masked ball; and the key to the attic is missing. As the secrets unravel, Helena finds herself drawn into a world where nothing is as it seems and she must fight for her chance to love—and survive

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

British author Grange (Darcy's Diary) takes a break from her Jane Austen re-imaginings with this spirited novel in the Brontë mold set in 1819. When Helena Carlisle crosses the moors on her way to visit her housekeeper aunt, Hester, at Stormcrow Castle, the master of the castle, Lord Torkrow, picks Helena up in his coach and mistakes her for her aunt's replacement. From Torkrow Helena learns Hester left her post some time earlier to go nurse her sister, a sister Helena knows doesn't exist. Pretending to be the replacement, Helena enters the gloomy, foreboding castle and vows to uncover what happened to her aunt. Grange peppers her story with rich atmospheric details, from a masked ball to a cast of colorful locals. Fans of romantic suspense will enjoy this tale of intrigue and deception on the barren moors. (Feb.)
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Review

"'Absolutely fascinating. Amanda Grange seems to have really got under Darcy's skin and retells the story, in diary form with great feeling and sensitivity.' Historical Novel Society 'Darcy's Diary is an enjoyable journey into the mind of one of the most popular characters in literary history...a gift to a new generation of Darcy fans and a treat for the existing fans as well.' Austenblog"

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Robert Hale (January 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0709082010
• ISBN-13: 978-0709082019
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,433,947 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lack-luster, no-frills, old-fashoned Gothic Romance, October 30, 2008

By 

A. Lee (L.A., CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stormcrow Castle (Ulverscroft Romance) (Hardcover)

I was surprised to see what looked like an old-fashioned Gothic Romance on the shelves--and copyrighted 2007! Was this an attempt to revive the sub-genre? Were Gothics coming back into fashion? Was this some cool new twist on a Gothic Romance for the new millennium?

Well, if this is meant to revive the genre, I don't see how it can. It seems like an exercise for the author to write a bare-bones, Gothic Romance that will have all the classic elements with no deviations. And it succeeds at that.

Helena Carlisle is coming to Stormcrow Castle to visit her aunt who is Housekeeper there. She's picked up in the middle of a dark, brooding moor by Lord Torkrow, her aunt's employer, who mistakenly thinks she's the new Housekeeper sent by an agency. Helena is silent as she learns that her aunt has left suddenly to nurse a sick sister. She knows that she is her aunt's only relation and there is no sister, so she takes on the role of the Housekeeper in order to find out what happened to her aunt. The Castle is situated in the middle of forbidding moors, isolated and empty of all but a few servants (the maids having left because they heard strange noices), there are locked attics and hidden rooms and a mysterious female servant who seems to have no clear position in the household. And there's a family curse.

This could almost be a parody of a stereotypical gothic, only it isn't. It just plays it straight and simple. The writing is competent but lack-luster. The characters are sympathetic but woefully two-dimensional. The plot is barely there. There is some little action/climactic scene towards the end, thrown in probably because the formula calls for it, and that's it. Nothing horrible, but nothing at all special, either.

If a straight-forward, no-frills, stereotypic Gothic is something you're looking for, then this is your book! If you're looking for an outstanding Gothic, then look elsewhere (probably any used bookstore carrying older romances from the '60s or '70s will have some that will be more worth your while... Victoria Holt and Phyllis Whitney and others have written some "classic" ones).