Customer Reviews

The Weaver and the Factory Maid

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When Ringan Laine, folk musician and historic house restorer, acquires a house in payment for a job, he and his long-time lover, theatre producer Penelope Wintercraft-Hawkes, find that they're not the house's only occupants. Through detective work, they look for a way to deal with their spectral houseguests.

The book features a charming British setting and characters, plus an added fascination for those of us interested in traditional folk ballads. In marketing, it may suffer from being "neither fish nor flesh nor good red herring." It has many of the aspects of a "cozy" mystery. It also has the supernatural aspect, although designed more to intrigue than to terrify. It would be a shame if genre-driven marketing fails to find a way to effectively market this charming whatever-it-is, which should appeal to mystery and supernatural readers; persons interested in traditional music; and Anglophiles.

As a fan of series books, I'd say that The Weaver and the Factor Maid also has many of the elements that can support a successful series. Ringan's musician friends and Penny's theatre work should offer many logical ways for them to become involved in supernatural mysteries. There are also a gracious plenty of spooky ballads from which to draw stories. I'm looking forward to the next installment, The Famous Flower of Serving Men.

I read this on a five-hour cross-county plane trip and was so engaged that I never noticed the turbulence. This is the kind of mystery that delivers just about everything I like-- fine writing, doughty characters, a beguling and ghostly plot, a narrative that weaves in fascinating threads from history, folk music, and architecture-- and there's even a little existential Pandora's box cracked open towards the end, as the characters wonder about the morality of ejecting the ghosts from their cozy human world. I'm thrilled that there are more of these Grabien mysteries in the Thomas Dunne pipeline!

I picked this one up at the library. It was spooky and charming. I guess I scare easily, because there were parts that I waited to read during the daytime, instead of before bedtime. I couldn't be as brave as those 3, seeing ghosts all over the place. I don't ever want to see a ghost, thank you very much.

I think I am going to have to get the next one in this series. I just wish it came with a CD, so that I could hear what these songs sound like. I am assuming they are actual songs, right?

I found this beautifully written tale of ghosts and music in the English Countryside to be a great read. Ringan assumes life ownership of a country cottage in lieu of payment for his restoration work on the Manor House of an estate. The cottage and barn are haunted and he and his lover, Penny, discover why it happened. I enjoyed the quality of the writing too much for this to be a true page turner, but it came close! This book may haunt me--I look forward to the next in what promises to be a series.

Now at a time when another working class evolution/revolution is underway with offshore outsourcing, we are treated to a well spun yarn about a song that characterized another era, when hand crafts were replaced with automation, and some dasterdly deeds of the age have created some loose spirits. Some friendly enough to keep, and some rather not.

This is a close encounter with some gently writen prose that runs deeper than it looks. A ghost story for those who hate ghost stories. A love story for those who hate love stories. An adventure with a clean shirt.

Deborah Grabien has done the supernatural up with a delicate blow from a keen and subtle wit that not everyone may be tuned to, but it is worth the effort to listen a little closer. Your intuition will get a tweak and your sense of ease a chill. Like Champagne and Stout this will go in like velvet and then hammer you later.

I will not rewrite the cover copy as synopsis. Read it after you get it.

Due to a cash flow problem, caused by loans and an energy investment, Scottish land owner Albert Wychsale cannot pay in money the house restoration debt he owes folk musician Rupert "Ringan" Laine. Instead he gives the Brit free lodging in the eighteenth century Lumbe's cottage near the restored Wychsale House.

Ringan and his girlfriend theater producer and actress Penelope Wintercraft-Hawkes move in their new abode. Quickly they feel cold air and other eerie phenomena that lead the duo and their pal Jane to conclude the house is haunted. They research the official and unauthorized historical records until the trio learns of the 1817 homicide. George Roeper killed his sister and her lover when he saw them lying down together. How to allow the ghosts to find rest is what the three humans struggle to achieve.

THE WEAVER AND THE FACTORY MAID is the first tale in a series based on popular ballads. The story of Betsy and Bill is fun to follow, but if readers expect Spielberg's Poltergeist or Straub's Ghost Story, they need to turn to the originals. Instead, this novel is an amiable tale about three nice humans trying to help spirits move on. Fun and original, but no scares with this fine plot.

Harriet Klausner

I'll admit I love Gothics and so was delighted to find a new author who writes them. I learned a bit about English history, architecture, and music. While not horribly scary, which was fine by me, there was excellent sense of place, a bit of pathos in the story of the ghosts, and a very enjoyable read.

I read this book when it first came out but waited until I had time to write a thoughtful review.

I really enjoyed this book, but I think it refuses to stay put in any one category. There is a ghost story, some mystery, but really, it just has some interesting characters. Ringhan reminds me of so many musicians I know. He has a strong healthy ego, knowledge of his own talents, but the knowledge that making money by doing what he likes - is never quite going to be enough. I feel like Penny is a woman I want to know, but it is going to take awhile. I liked Wychsasle, and want to see him again.

I love her prose. It is lyrical and very evocative. If you hang with musicians, you'll recognize the bickering. If you have done any historical research, you'll recognize the tedium and triumph. And if I ever drove by Ringan's home I'll recognizes it.

I love her ability to switch the mood of the story in the space of a sentence

So if I loved it so much, why only four stars? Simple. I'm expecting better with the next book.

This is a lovely little book, one which Publisher's Weekly finds understandably difficult to characterize. It's rather outside of conventional genres, but that doesn't mean you should avoid it! Instead, you should snuggle in with your favorite blanket and a nice cup of tea, and let Ms. Grabien tell you a story. Her ability to capture mood is tremendous - you can almost feel the ghosts yourself! I got chills, even reading it in my office. Her spare yet descriptive style reminds me very much of Peter S. Beagle, and the British characters sound so real they made me homesick for England.

While I liked Weaver a lot, I don't give it 5 stars. I'm sure that as Ms. Grabien becomes more comfortable with Ringan and Penny and their world, later books in this series will get 5 stars from me! I hope we get to spend more time with Liam, Jane, and Matty; Wychsale and Butterball; and that maybe someday BBC Mystery will have a Ringan and Penny series.

Ringan Laine, member of the traditional folksinging group Broomfield Hill, has been offered a lifetime lease on Lumbe's Cottage, an acre of land, and an old tithe barn, in lieu of cash payment for his services as restorer and decorator for Albert Wychesale's stately home. Lumbe's Cottage is attached to Wychesale's entailed estate but, through a loophole, exempt from the entailment. Laine is all too ready to accept the offer, even after his first afternoon in the cottage gives him reason to believe it may be haunted.

Ringan's companion and lover of ten years, Penelope Wintercraft-Hawkes, director of the acting troupe The Tamburlaine Players, comes to help Ringan settle into his new home, and herself meets a ghost--but not the same one. Who are these spirits, and why do they linger here, near the banks of the Carlyon in the quiet Somerset countryside?

Deborah Grabien has crafted a wonderfully tense and surprising tale, peopled with characters the reader quickly comes to care about. Grabien is familiar both with traditional English folksongs and the vagaries of the world of performing. She also knows intimately the England she writes about, and her greatest gift to her readers may be her sense of place and her ability to make us at home in it.

"The Weaver and The Factory Maid" is the title to one of Broomfield Hill's traditional songs. This reader is pleased to understand that there are plenty of such songs, and the possibility of a Grabien tale for many of their titles.