Brooding Mansion

by Paulette Warren

Young Connie Bartlett was understandably thrilled at her new appointment as personal nurse to the great John Ganton. But the excitement began to turn to fear almost as soon as she entered the fabulous Fifth Avenue Ganton Manor.

Upon her arrival, she found she had another patient--young Tom Ganton, the reckless daredevil of the clan, who had been injured in an automobile accident. His forceful yet mysterious insistence that she leave the grand old mansion at once could not stop Connie from falling deeper and deeper in love with him.

Ganton Manor held secrets of shame and madness, and Connie found herself drawn inexorably into their midst. When she began to discover more about what went on behind the doors that were always closed, she became entangled in an incredible web of terror and love.

Genres: Gothic

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

Reviews

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unhinged. Entertaining in its pure stupidity and ridiculousness.

[Nattie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Brooding Mansion deserves 1.5 stars.

I am finding out that a lot of books labeled gothic are not gothics at all, and this is one of them. I was expecting something moody and chilling about a nurse going to work in a mansion for a rich man, what I got was talk of Nazis and world domination, which was not the kind of chills I wanted.

To make things even more disappointing, there was the usual 1-hour romance. In about eight days a woman is so in love that she wants to rip apart someone who made a nasty comment about her guy. The guy was even worse, he was seriously talking marriage after maybe 48 hours.

[Jeannette Ruleman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a very quick read. It’s 176 pages, but would be much less if the book wasn’t an “easy eye” edition with large print. The first parts of this book were intriguing- a beautiful young woman take a job as a nurse to a wealthy, older gentleman in a house more fit to be called a castle. She meets the man’s dashing son and almost immediately falls in love with him (sigh). Then the book lost me with a doctor plotting to steal the fortune of the old man, who is holding secret meetings in his house with the intent to create some kind of Nazi-state in America. I picked this book up mainly for the vintage gothic cover and had very low expectations for the contents. I’m glad I did, since the book was not in any way suspenseful or romantic. If this is on your list of books to read, move it to the bottom.