The River and the Rose

by Sandra Abbott

A gothic novel by Sandra Abbott She was trapped in a decaying Southern mansion with an eerie love...and a premonition of disaster. The beautiful young woman- tortured by the memory of a lost love...Haunted by the threat of a new romance The man possessed- too handsome, too passionate, too violent to be trusted. He treated women the way he treated his horses...without mercy. The threatening housekeeper - A woman with a little knowledge, a lot of hate...and not enough luck to save her life. The other women and the ghost Five people thrown together in a game of chance, fated to play out their last days in a decadent Southern mansion - a place of beauty in the shadow of madness.

Genres: Gothic

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

Reviews

[Bev · Rating 2 out of 5]

Set in about 1899 in Georgia: Four years after her fiancé dies in a freak carriage versus train accident, Suzanne Howe answers an advertisement for "a young lady of good character for a position with a Southern family." Her beloved Aaron had been from the South and she thought she would be closer to his memory there. She has visions of beautiful plantations and people of quiet Southern manners and charm. What she gets is a ramshackle mansion--dusty and falling into disrepair, a butler who is downright rude, and a housekeeper who is by turns cold and aloof and then warm and welcoming. Andrew Parker, the master of the house, is a dark, brooding sort who both repels and attracts Suzanne.

But looming over Belle Rose (the name of our gothic plantation) are dark secrets. Who is the woman crying hysterically in the room next to Suzanne? Is she the same woman who wanders through the woods and fields at night? Why don't the townspeople want to come to Belle Rose? And why won't the doctor and his wife help Suzanne when she thinks she wants to leave the plantation? Andrew finally answers her questions about the strange things that have been happening--but can she really believe him? When someone winds up murdered one fateful night and Suzanne finds Andrew standing over the body, will she discover that she's fallen in love with a killer?

So...this is a bizarre little book. Literally--it's a bare 128 pages in length and this story needs more than that. Sometimes a book moves quickly because it's exciting and you keep turning pages to find out what happened. Not here. Everything just happens too fast. There is a whirlwind of strange crying, sightings of the weird woman, Suzanne having fainting fits and a fever, Andrew telling her he loves her. they kiss a lot for two people who've just met but then immediately she's fearful of him, and he's off in a brooding fit of anger. There's no real build up at all. And then there's a whole other storyline about a dreadful event that happened at the end of the Civil War. It's all too much in too few pages. I got to the end of the story and just felt like "What just happened?!" And, seriously girl, if a guy swings from tenderness to shouting anger like that...he's got issues that need resolved before you go tumbling into his arms. ★ and 1/2

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting portions of review. Thanks.

[Dorothy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did you ever read a book and just go What?? I should have stopped reading after the first few pages but no stupid me finished the book.