The Fortune Hunters

by Joan Aiken

The House of Secrets

After her father died, Annette moved to a beautiful house by the sea and tried to forget. Against her will she found herself drawn into the social life of the town. Much to her surprise, she fell in love with a famous artist.

But something was desperately wrong. Sometimes she lost all sense of where she was and what she was doing. Sometimes she was haunted by the horrible memory of an evil face and long, bony fingers tightening around her throat. Slowly and inexorably, her dream house became a house of living horrors.

Genres: Romance, Mystery, British Literature, Fiction, Gothic

197 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Joan Aiken was a much loved English writer who received the MBE for services to Children's Literature. She was known as a writer of wild fantasy, Gothic novels and short stories.

She was born in Rye, East Sussex, into a family of writers, including her father, Conrad Aiken (who won a Pulitzer Prize for his poetry), and her sister, Jane Aiken Hodge. She worked for the United Nations Information Office during the second world war, and then as an editor and freelance on Argosy magazine before she started writing full time, mainly children's books and thrillers. For her books she received the Guardian Award (1969) and the Edgar Allan Poe Award (1972).

Her most popular series, the "Wolves Chronicles" which began with The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, was set in an elaborate alternate period of history in a Britain in which James II was never deposed in the Glorious Revolution,and so supporters of the House of Hanover continually plot to overthrow the Stuart Kings. These books also feature cockney urchin heroine Dido Twite and her adventures and travels all over the world.

Another series of children's books about Arabel and her raven Mortimer are illustrated by Quentin Blake, and have been shown on the BBC as Jackanory and drama series. Others including the much loved Necklace of Raindrops and award winning Kingdom Under the Sea are illustrated by Jan Pieńkowski.

Her many novels for adults include several that continue or complement novels by Jane Austen. These include Mansfield Revisited and Jane Fairfax.

Aiken was a lifelong fan of ghost stories. She set her adult supernatural novel The Haunting of Lamb House at Lamb House in Rye (now a National Trust property). This ghost story recounts in fictional form an alleged haunting experienced by two former residents of the house, Henry James and E. F. Benson, both of whom also wrote ghost stories. Aiken's father, Conrad Aiken, also authored a small number of notable ghost stories.

Reviews

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Gothic psychological mystery was a bit predictable but Joan Aiken wrote so well that she entertained me on this psychologically weird Christmas weekend. A competent female magazine editor comes up against a mad artist, a mad neighbor and false friends. Actually it was a feat how she convinced me that the heroine, Annette, was as strong as she was weak.

[Louise Culmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Annette is recovering from an illness, the death of her father, the breaking off of her engagement, and a big win on the football pools. She is persuaded by her pushy friend Joanna to buy a house in the picturesque old town of Crowbridge, which seems the ideal place to recuperate. Or is it? Some strange things start to happen, and it seems not everyone in Crowbridge wishes Annette well. A quite entertaining mystery.

[Bryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very enjoyable 1960s suspense novel about Annette, a smart, hard-working young woman at a magazine publisher's who has been knocked off her feet by the combination of her father's recent death and her surprise win of a very large sum of money at football pools. This, along with a bout of pneumonia, leaves her physically weak, prone to dissociation, and thus on leave from her job to recover. At her frenemy Joanna's suggestion she's bought a pretty house in the town of Crowbridge (a fictionalised Rye, according to Google) which is conveniently set on the edge of a marsh to provide a nice place for the inevitable chase scenes and accidental near-drowning in fog that this genre of book demands. (That is not a spoiler, you can read the book yourself to see if it happens -- but the genre does want it.)

The usual gothic-ish suspense hinges on the question of trustworthiness -- who can the heroine trust, and who is attempting to manipulate her and get her money/title/land/pretty self for their own devices? Can she, in fact, trust herself, or are the strange happenings (ghosts, thumps in the night, kidnapping attempts) just her imagination? Often this second piece of the puzzle fails for me because it is obvious the author intends the heroine to be basically right about what is happening, even if some particular event (a ghost sighting, say) is misunderstood. I found it interesting that Aiken makes it unambiguous that Annette's dissociation renders her an untrustworthy narrator -- she cannot account for all of her time, she doesn't know what she doesn't know, and that makes her more vulnerable to the machinations of those around her. It was very solidly done, interesting and fun to read, and inspires me to carry on with my Aiken binge.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm excited to have found another author who writes these romantic, neo-gothic mysteries well (my first foray was with Phyllis A. Whitney). These are not high literature, but they're damn fun to read. A passage I loved, and thought was pretty funny from this one (no spoilers):

Idly wandering about the room, she read a framed and engraved certificate which hung between the windows. It announced to the world that Frdrck Theophilius Frazer, M.D., of St Andrews University, Phyfician, was qualified to Practice Chirurgerie, Furgerie, Cupping, Leeching, and the Minor Medical Artf.

Good for old Frdrck Theophilius. She wondered how long he had gone on prescribing his pills and boluses to the citizens of Crowbridge. For all she knew he was at it still, practicing his minor medical artf, senior partner to Dr. Whitney (himself no chicken).

[Elizabeth King]

Let's be honest...I only read this for the autumnal vibes. They did not disappoint!

[Tanya · Rating 3 out of 5]

“It isn’t only that sometimes I can’t remember what I’ve been doing. Now I’m beginning to be afraid—afraid that I might find out.” [loc. 2218]

Annette has recently moved to a small town near the coast. She's experienced three major life events in recent months: the death of her father, a substantial windfall, and an unpleasant bout of 'pneumonia complicated by jaundice', which has left her prone to fits of amnesia.

Her job as a magazine editor is being looked after by her colleague Joanna, who also suggested that she move house, and has introduced her to a family connection, famous artist Crispin James. Annette leaps at the opportunity to study with James, though her new friend Noel -- an archaeologist from New Zealand who's excavating a nearby Roman villa -- has reservations about the man.

And then there's the mysterious neighbour, and the children's toys that keep appearing in the garden, and Annette's sense that she has forgotten something very important.

Not the best of Aiken's romantic thrillers, but an enjoyable read. The romance is slight, and very much in second place to the mystery plot. Annette's amnesia is depicted with unsettling authenticity, and her vulnerability on that front contrasts nicely with her determination to retain her independence. An old-school Gothic feel, an adorable dog, and an outre plot that could have done with slightly more foreshadowing.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like this was fairly easy for Aiken to write, and it was perfect at being what it was - a gothic novel with some sophistication, because Aiken was the one who wrote it. She only had 200 pages, so although it is paced well there isn't much room for the plot to breathe. (This might also be because I basically read it in one sitting.) I will continue to read whatever I turn up that Aiken has written, her little touches and mastery of writing always delight. I did see the twist looming, but all in all it was pretty clever.

[Laura Price]

This is mainly a fun read, but there’s some very dated ableist language and ableist portrayals of disability that jarred with me. They’re consistent with attitudes and language at the time the book was written, but nonetheless it’s not easy to read as a disabled person.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book suspenseful and genuinely quite frightening!

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy read. Good atmosphere of gothic suspense but not very likeable characters and limited character development.

[Adrian Griffiths · Rating 2 out of 5]

A woman called Annette suddenly comes into wealth and uses some of it to buy a house in a small village. She is soon surrounded by new friends, new neighbours, various village oddballs and other hangers-on. Mysterious events start to happen.

I didn't understand the aims of this plot. A lot of it seems ambling and directionless. It starts well with Annette driving in the pouring rain and having a frightening encounter with a hitchhiker. However, the author then decides to give Annette amnesia and she spends the rest of the book having flashbacks and wondering what they relate to. It doesn't work because we (as the reader) read what happened and we don't have amnesia, so where's the tension in that? Also, Annette doesn't seem to be a very nice person, she rudely shrugs off her main suitor because she's too busy and just wants to paint pictures. She then accepts a marriage proposal from someone she doesn't seem to like in the slightest. There's no tension, just stuff happening, and it ends very flatly.

Joan Aiken has a following and seems to write well (there are some very nice passages here), but I hope she has done better work than this.

[Gena Lott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another great mystery-suspense author!!