Book Review
The Edge of Dark by Pamela Hartshorne
Another time-slip novel. The Time Travellers Wife seems to have given rise to several novels with a time-slip theme, and this is a good one.
There's Jane, in 1560's York, and there's Roz in 1986 into 2000's, in London and York. York is a perfect spooky, historic setting for a novel of spirits and evil influences, which this is.
Jane's life has certain points of similarity with Roz's so when Roz goes to work at Holmwood House in York, a restored medieval mansion, her sensitivity to ghostly spiritual happenings is revealed, and fast becomes a problem.
Jane gradually encroaches on Roz's mind. Increasingly the people around Jane are tied in with people in Roz's life, then they overlap, then tragedy strikes.
It is well written. The historical background is well researched. There is a strong contrast between the lives of women in Jane's time. Although Jane is from a family with wealth and position, she is virtually powerless, and her well-being is dependent entirely on the character of the man she marries, who is the man chosen by her father for reasons of social status and money. Roz is educated, independent a modern woman married to a man of her choice, and her problems are of the early 21st century, but there are nevertheless, similarities between the two which are the basis of the story., Fans of the historical novel should be well pleased with the setting f medieval York, and the author switches between the two main characters frequently, gradually weaving a story in which the lives of both become tied across the centuries. In the final chapters the tension heightens, and the centuries meld, in a crisis with fearful consequences.
I enjoyed this book. I felt engaged with the two main characters, and found the historical detail about life in the 16th century fascinating.
Recommended.
Another time-slip novel. The Time Travellers Wife seems to have given rise to several novels with a time-slip theme, and this is a good one.
There's Jane, in 1560's York, and there's Roz in 1986 into 2000's, in London and York. York is a perfect spooky, historic setting for a novel of spirits and evil influences, which this is.
Jane's life has certain points of similarity with Roz's so when Roz goes to work at Holmwood House in York, a restored medieval mansion, her sensitivity to ghostly spiritual happenings is revealed, and fast becomes a problem.
Jane gradually encroaches on Roz's mind. Increasingly the people around Jane are tied in with people in Roz's life, then they overlap, then tragedy strikes.
It is well written. The historical background is well researched. There is a strong contrast between the lives of women in Jane's time. Although Jane is from a family with wealth and position, she is virtually powerless, and her well-being is dependent entirely on the character of the man she marries, who is the man chosen by her father for reasons of social status and money. Roz is educated, independent a modern woman married to a man of her choice, and her problems are of the early 21st century, but there are nevertheless, similarities between the two which are the basis of the story., Fans of the historical novel should be well pleased with the setting f medieval York, and the author switches between the two main characters frequently, gradually weaving a story in which the lives of both become tied across the centuries. In the final chapters the tension heightens, and the centuries meld, in a crisis with fearful consequences.
I enjoyed this book. I felt engaged with the two main characters, and found the historical detail about life in the 16th century fascinating.
Recommended.
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