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Lost Among the Living by Simone St. James

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A captivating Gothic mystery set in 1920s England.

Following the disappearance of her husband Alex during the war, Jo has taken on the role of paid companion to Alex's aunt, Dottie.

Following a tour of Europe, Jo travels with Dottie to the family home, Wych Elm House, deep in the English countryside, to continue her employment.

Wych Elm House is a house haunted, by loss and grief and secrets, the shadow of death hanging over it like a shroud.

'Lost Among the Living' is an historical Gothic mystery by Simone St. James, laced with suspense, romance, intrigue and the paranormal. Set between the world wars, it follows a war widow, Jo Manders, grief-stricken and under the employ of her husband’s aunt, Dottie, in part in effort to cling to her husband’s memory, as she travels to the Sussex countryside to continue her employ in Dottie’s home and explores the tangle of mysteries she uncovers there. Beautifully written and vividly realised, character-driven with multi-layered plotting and rich in gothic atmosphere, the novel takes us on an engrossing, emotional journey.

We meet Jo only three years after suffering the devastating loss of her husband, Alex, an RAF pilot whose plane went down during a lone reconnaissance mission towards the end of the First World War. Flashbacks reveal how Jo and Alex's relationship began and their ensuing whirlwind romance, before Alex joined the air divisions of the Armed Forces when war broke out, and the final few occasions she saw him before his ill-fated mission. His remains were never recovered and he has never been declared officially deceased. Alongside the burden of her grief, Jo has been unable to find closure or be able to lay him to rest. She mourns Alex’s loss, and yet she is soon confronted by suggestions of deceit and betrayal, leaving her questioning how much of an illusion is our belief that we know the people we love as intimately as we know ourselves.

Wych Elm House, a combination of the derelict mansion of classic Gothics and the country manor of classic mysteries, is a house in mourning, a mausoleum barely inhabited since the death of Alex’s cousin, Frances. Locals are terrified to enter the forest surrounding the property for fear that the spirits of Frances and her demonic dog stalk amongst the trees. Several ghostly encounters inspire Jo’s determination to unearth the truth surrounding Frances’ death, providing her a new focus as balm to her grief. The Forsyth family may harbour secrets they wish to remain buried – everyone is a suspect, and remaining objective becomes increasingly challenging for Jo, as she forms a friendship with Alex’s cousin, Martin, and develops a contentious fondness for Dottie, who proves to be far more complex than one may imagine from her steely, prickly exterior.

St. James has crafted a thrilling, riveting tale, weaving supernatural mystery, international intrigue and gothic romance into a sublime historical story, told with shades of masters of the classics in Gothic, mystery and suspense – including Du Maurier, Conan Doyle, Christie, and even Hitchcock. Laced with historical detail of the interwar years – the war itself, the Spanish Flu pandemic, the unease in the aftermath of war that peace in Europe may be only temporary, the class system and position of women in English society; and woven with multiple twists and revelations, turning the plot inside out, the narrative transports us back in time, plunging us into a turbulent chapter in Jo’s life, events escalating to a suspenseful finale as vengeance is meted out from beyond the grave.

An intense and riveting Gothic mystery, ‘Lost Among the Living’ is thought-provoking, poignant and gripping historical fiction.



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