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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
PART ENGLISH HISTORY...PART ENGLISH MYSTERY..., October 14, 2005
This is a marvelous and beautifully realized work of fiction. As someone who enjoys mysteries, as well as historical fiction and gothic novels of suspense, I was quite taken with this book. Intricately plotted, the book is clever in its premise. Two disparate human beings, a highly independent, red-headed slip of a woman, Samantha Flood, Australian by birth, and a serious, fervently religious Spaniard, Miguel Madero, who is half-English, find themselves thrust together, as each explores the tiny, remote Cumbrian village of Illthwaite in England, looking for answers to their individual quests. Both are in Illthwaite to get information relative to that which each is seeking. Both are staying in the local inn, called The Stranger House.
Samantha is a brilliant but brash mathematician in her early twenties. Fondly known as Sam to her friends, she is interested in tracing her familial roots. She has recently discovered that her paternal grandmother was from this part of the world, having been a part of a huge number of children migrants that had been unceremoniously shipped from England to other parts of its Empire, including Australia. Samantha is interested in finding out more about her paternal grandmother and the mystery surrounding her.
Miguel, or Mig, as he is known to his family and friends, is the scion of a well-known house of vintners in Spain and is in his late twenties. He is a former seminarian who has suffered from manifestations of what he believes to be stigmata. He also, on occasion, sees ghostly manifestations or visions. Recovering from a serious alpine accident that nearly killed him, he is now in Illthwaite ostensibly to do research for his thesis on the experience of English Catholics during the Reformation. He is, however, actually in Illthwaite to find out more about an ancestor of his who mysteriously disappeared there centuries ago during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
In Illthwaite, Both Sam and Mig find themselves up against obstacles placed in their way. It seems that its residents are not totally forthcoming or are reluctant to part with information relative to their respective quests. What they each individually discover is that things are not always as they seem in Illthwaite. Moreover, their divergent interests are more intertwined than they could ever have imagined. They will discover that they have more in common than they realized, having come full circle in a cosmic design not of their making.
This book has well-drawn characters that come alive under the author's expert hand. The plot is unusual, as well as complex, containing many layers that the discerning reader will enjoy exploring. Well-written, as well as intricately plotted, this book crosses a number of genres. With its supernatural portents, historical underpinnings, underlying mystery, as well as its gothic type suspense and sensibilities, infused with just a dollop of romance, this book will appeal to those readers who favor these genres. In particular, I found the parts of the book that transcended into historical fiction to be the most compelling. This is not a book for everyone, but to those for whom its themes have inherent appeal, it is a book to be relished.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Evil Repeats Itself, October 19, 2005
This book came as a considerable surprise. My luck in getting offers of interesting review copies is nearly nil. That last thing I expected was to receive a book that was not only entertaining, but which pushed against the limits of its genre to become a genuinely original story.
The initial buildup of the story seems quite traditional. Samantha Flood is a young Australian woman who has come to England to study math at Cambridge. The story of her family's origins are bound up in the tragic tale of a huge number of orphaned and abandoned children who were shipped off from England to Australia. Twice abandoned, many were ruthlessly mistreated. Now she has come to the village of Illthwaite to discover the truth.
Miguel Madero, scion of a wealthy Spanish family, has an equivalent mystery, but one four hundred years older. A father and son were drawn into the conflict between England and Spain and both were lost. Only by a miracle was the family preserved. Now Mig driven by belief and curiosity is trying to add new light to England's old persecution of Catholic priests. The trail leads to the Woollass family, the lords of Illthwaite's manor.
What with an immediate attempt on Sam's life and Mig's tendency towards visions and stigmata, the reader will almost immediately assume that this is going to by a typical spooky suspense thriller. And only slowly does Reginald Hill reveal that this is a much deeper tale of guilt and retribution. The spookiness and suspense carry us along nicely, luring us into a finely written human tapestry, where characters are more than first appearances. Under the twin story arcs of Mig's and Sam's heritages lie the individual stories behind each if Illthwaite's denizens.
What makes the novel work is Reginald Hill's ability to tell a story that has countless echoes of the past in completely modern terms. With one or three notable exceptions, the characters step outside their archetypical forms, interacting comfortably, either endearing or repelling the reader, as the moment requires. The apparent 'naturalness' of the telling is really a study in careful control. The Stranger Houseis a compelling read that is worth pursuing.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nothing in this place is as it seems., October 5, 2005
Reginald Hill's "The Stranger House" is an intricate story about two people who meet in the village of Illthwaite, in Cumbria, England. Samantha Flood is a spunky Aussie in her early twenties. She's a brash and curious mathematician who plans to continue her graduate studies in Cambridge. However, Sam takes some time off to do some digging into her family's background. Miguel Ramos Elkington Madero, known as Mig, is five years older than Sam, and he is very different from her. While Sam is a pragmatist who has no use for religion, Mig is a Catholic who once studied for the priesthood. Over the years, he has had strange visions and has experienced unexplained pain and bleeding from his palms. Mig has come to Illthwaite from Spain in order to explore the experiences of English Catholics during the Reformation. Do Sam and Mig encounter one another in this tiny village by chance, or has fate brought these two people together for some special purpose?
"The Stranger House" moves back and forth in time as Hill examines the history of Illthwaite going back several generations. Most of the town's inhabitants seem friendly enough on the surface, but they become closed-mouthed and evasive when discussing the past. Eventually, the tenacious Mig and Sam uncover some shocking information that sheds an entirely new light on their ancestry. They find out that although Illthwaite seems to be a quiet and nondescript place, some of its citizens may have committed and covered up heinous crimes.
Hill shines in his vivid depiction of the countryside and the eccentric English villagers. All of his characters are original and outstandingly realized. Sam Flood is bright, inquisitive, irrepressible, and nobody's fool. Although she looks younger than her years, she is far from naive. Sam senses that the town is reluctant to give up its secrets, but she refuses to back down until she gets some answers. Mig is a deeply spiritual individual whose carnal desires overtake him at odd moments. He is a scholar with an appreciation for history, and he is shocked when he finds out that his quest coincides with Sam's.
This is a deliberately paced and subtle psychological thriller about how and why the inhabitants of Illthwaite are so reluctant to tell Sam and Mig the truth. The book has a "Rashomon" feel to it, since different narrators relate key events from their own particular perspectives. In addition, Hill makes ample use of flashbacks and foreshadowing to drop hints and clues, but the dizzying swirl of events begins to make sense only at the end of this lengthy novel. For the patient and careful reader who loves a literary challenge, "The Stranger House" provides rich rewards. It is a dryly humorous, suspenseful, engrossing, and ambitious tale of lust, greed, religious persecution, and murder.
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