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The Shivering Sands
Ancient ruins. Family scandal. Forbidden love.
Caroline knows something is wrong. Her sister Roma has gone missing, and no one can tell her why. The only option is to go where Roma was last seen—an estate with a deadly history...
The Stacy family has lived off the Dover coast for generations, carefully navigating the treacherous quicksands nearby. But the sands aren't Caroline's biggest threat. Everyone here has a secret, especially enigmatic young heir Napier Stacy. No matter where Caroline turns, the ground she walks is dangerous. And the closer she comes to unraveling the truth, the closer she comes to sharing her sister's fate...
327 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1969
375 people are currently reading
3617 people want to read
About the author
Victoria Holt
372 books1,377 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Eleanor Alice Burford, Mrs. George Percival Hibbert was a British author of about 200 historical novels, most of them under the pen name Jean Plaidy which had sold 14 million copies by the time of her death. She chose to use various names because of the differences in subject matter between her books; the best-known, apart from Plaidy, are Victoria Holt (56 million) and Philippa Carr (3 million). Lesser known were the novels Hibbert published under her maiden name Eleanor Burford, or the pseudonyms of Elbur Ford, Kathleen Kellow and Ellalice Tate. Many of her readers under one penname never suspected her other identities.
-Wikipedia
Eleanor Alice Burford, Mrs. George Percival Hibbert was a British author of about 200 historical novels, most of them under the pen name Jean Plaidy which had sold 14 million copies by the time of her death. She chose to use various names because of the differences in subject matter between her books; the best-known, apart from Plaidy, are Victoria Holt (56 million) and Philippa Carr (3 million). Lesser known were the novels Hibbert published under her maiden name Eleanor Burford, or the pseudonyms of Elbur Ford, Kathleen Kellow and Ellalice Tate. Many of her readers under one penname never suspected her other identities.
-Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 306 reviews
July 10, 2019
An old-fashioned, Gothic style mystery/suspense novel by the prolific Victoria Holt, written in 1969, and set in what appears to be the late Victorian era in England (there are trains but no automobiles; girls put their hair up at age 17). Caroline Verlaine, a young widow and very talented pianist who had let her own career lapse in favor of supporting her husband's, takes a job at the mysterious Stacy mansion on the Kent coast in order to quietly investigate the disappearance of her older sister. She's hired to give piano lessons to four somewhat odd young girls and to play occasional recitals.
There are lots of interesting characters living in and around the Stacy estate, and everyone seems to be keeping secrets of one sort or another. There are also a couple of potential romantic interests to enliven matters ... although not too much. Don't read this one for the romantic feelz, is what I'm saying.
I had fun trying to suss out who was the murderer (with some success) and why (with somewhat less success). It was a little far-fetched in the end, but not so much that it ruined the fun for me. I also thought The Shivering Sands made some good points about the choices we make in life and the consequences of those choices:
There are lots of interesting characters living in and around the Stacy estate, and everyone seems to be keeping secrets of one sort or another. There are also a couple of potential romantic interests to enliven matters ... although not too much. Don't read this one for the romantic feelz, is what I'm saying.
I had fun trying to suss out who was the murderer (with some success) and why (with somewhat less success). It was a little far-fetched in the end, but not so much that it ruined the fun for me. I also thought The Shivering Sands made some good points about the choices we make in life and the consequences of those choices:
"Two paths are opening up for you, Mrs. Verlaine. You will choose. You chose once before. Oh Mrs. Verlaine, you are not as wise as you pretend to be. Once you had a big decision to make . . . and you didn't choose your music. Were you right . . . or wrong? Only you can say because it is what you believe to be right which will be right for you."It's enjoyable reading for retro Gothic suspense novel fans, but I wouldn't particularly recommend it if you're not a fan of the genre.
September 12, 2019
One of Holt's best, The Shivering Sands is a romance, a mystery and a darn good read. Caroline, heartbroken over the death of her spouse, a brilliant pianist, and running out of money takes a job at the estate nearby where her only sister has gone missing. Caroline's sister is an archaeologist and was studying the ancient Roman ruins near the Stacy estate, where she seems to have vanished into thin air. Roma, Caroline's sister, was a practical, strong woman, not given to running away from her duty, so Caroline gives her life a new purpose in searching for her.
Soon Caroline meets her 3 pupils, all girls and all having a tenuous link to the estate, Alice, meek and mild, is the illegitimate daughter of Sir William, the patriarch; Allegra, is the illegitimate daughter of Sir William's son Napier, and; Edith, the only grown woman of the 3 and married to Napier. It is all a sticky wicket and Caroline has to balance her piano teaching with searching and asking questions about Roma, without giving away the fact that they were sisters.
She is drawn to the cynical, brooding Napier who, like Caroline, has a dark history and one he would like to forget. Caroline finds herself feeling sorry for Napier who is reviled by all for accidentally killing his older, much beloved brother Beau when they were teenagers. Pity isn't all she feels for him and she treads a thin line, knowing her only real goal is to find out what happened to her sister.
Soon Caroline meets her 3 pupils, all girls and all having a tenuous link to the estate, Alice, meek and mild, is the illegitimate daughter of Sir William, the patriarch; Allegra, is the illegitimate daughter of Sir William's son Napier, and; Edith, the only grown woman of the 3 and married to Napier. It is all a sticky wicket and Caroline has to balance her piano teaching with searching and asking questions about Roma, without giving away the fact that they were sisters.
She is drawn to the cynical, brooding Napier who, like Caroline, has a dark history and one he would like to forget. Caroline finds herself feeling sorry for Napier who is reviled by all for accidentally killing his older, much beloved brother Beau when they were teenagers. Pity isn't all she feels for him and she treads a thin line, knowing her only real goal is to find out what happened to her sister.
May 3, 2014
"There was no sign of her. It was as though she had just walked out into nowhere."
The quick run down on the plot: heroine Caroline comes to the Dover Coast in search of her sister who vanished without a trace (sister was an archaeologist working on local digs). Caroline studied music, and she comes to the Napier household in the guise of a piano tutor for the young ladies in residence at the manor. In true Victoria Holt fashion, it doesn't take long for things to go bump in the night (is there a ghost?), a brooding hero (did he do the dirty deed?) and there's mystery and suspense a-plenty for our plucky heroine to deal with.
And then there's those shivering sands:
“But…it was low water and I saw the sands…lovely looking clean golden sand, all rippled. There were deep holes and these were filled with water; and the sand moves as you watch and forms itself into strange shapes, like monsters some of them…with claws…waiting to catch anyone who wandered there and pull them down."
*shudders*
I loved this one, and Holt kept me guessing until the very end (and fooled me).
Kindle copy obtained via library loan.
The quick run down on the plot: heroine Caroline comes to the Dover Coast in search of her sister who vanished without a trace (sister was an archaeologist working on local digs). Caroline studied music, and she comes to the Napier household in the guise of a piano tutor for the young ladies in residence at the manor. In true Victoria Holt fashion, it doesn't take long for things to go bump in the night (is there a ghost?), a brooding hero (did he do the dirty deed?) and there's mystery and suspense a-plenty for our plucky heroine to deal with.
And then there's those shivering sands:
“But…it was low water and I saw the sands…lovely looking clean golden sand, all rippled. There were deep holes and these were filled with water; and the sand moves as you watch and forms itself into strange shapes, like monsters some of them…with claws…waiting to catch anyone who wandered there and pull them down."
*shudders*
I loved this one, and Holt kept me guessing until the very end (and fooled me).
Kindle copy obtained via library loan.
March 20, 2015
Oh. My. Another shiveringly good book, of which I've no idea what to say. What can one say when a book is so good?
Caroline Brandon was the black sheep of her family. She had dared to turn her nose up at archaeologists and therefore, her parents as well as her older sister, Roma. Their one comfort was that their daughter was musical, amazingly so. Caroline gave her family up for music, only to give her music up, for Pietro.
Selfish, Passionate and Brilliant Pietro. Only to lose him, the only person who understood her, knew she would never be as good as him, knew she was not an artist, just a performer. Gullibly she swallowed his tales, and believes that she wasn't and never would be anything above the average.
Now that Pietro was gone Roma was her only comfort. Roma, whose worth Caroline never fully realized till now. Roma, whose only fault was that she couldn't understand why everyone didn't love Archaeology. She brought Caroline out of her doldrums, set her almost free from Pietro's grasp. Then Roma too, is gone.
Caroline must and will find out the truth of her disappearance, she won't believe the stories she has been told, they just can't be right! So she goes to Kent, the very place her sister disappeared, but someone there doesn't want her to know, and they will do anything, anything at all to stop her. By the time she finds the secret of The Shivering Sands, it may all be too late…
Worse, insanity may be hidden in the crevasses of Kent's countryside, waiting for her to pass within reach of the long, entangling fingers. The sea is a very long way down, and the sucking, bubbling sands are ready for another burial to be hidden in their depths…
(The White Cliffs of Dover)
Loved it, words can not describe the tingling sensation The Shivering Sands gave me. I am afraid that if I let myself put faces to the names that it will be too real, that the terror will over run me and I too, will be like the masts sticking up awkwardly from the sea.
I didn't always like Caroline, she was an idiot. Why did she marry that Pietro? He thought he was better than her, and I hated his high-handedness. Some of the other characters I didn't like either. Napier was unknowingly cruel; though how he didn't realize it I don't know. His wife would be reduced to a shaking leaf because he was trying to help her through her fears. He only made them worse. All because he wanted a "wife he could be proud of". What about her?! What kind of husband did she want? Did he think of that? No! Arrgh!
Other than that, I only liked Alice, she was so sweet. Innocent. Pure. Obedient. Grave Alice. This poem Alice quoted sums the story up:
"From my study, I see in the lamplight
Decending the broad hall stair
Grave Alice and Laughing Allegra
And Edith with the golden hair
A whisper and then a silence;
Yet I know by their merry eyes
They are plotting and planning together
To take me by surprise."
(Page 56)
As for the murderer, (he/she) was delightful unexpected and creepy.
PG for talk of Love Children, Mistresses and of course, murder. As well as a "hand reading", however it's a bit like Mr. Rochester's gypsy game in Jane Eyre
Caroline Brandon was the black sheep of her family. She had dared to turn her nose up at archaeologists and therefore, her parents as well as her older sister, Roma. Their one comfort was that their daughter was musical, amazingly so. Caroline gave her family up for music, only to give her music up, for Pietro.
Selfish, Passionate and Brilliant Pietro. Only to lose him, the only person who understood her, knew she would never be as good as him, knew she was not an artist, just a performer. Gullibly she swallowed his tales, and believes that she wasn't and never would be anything above the average.
Now that Pietro was gone Roma was her only comfort. Roma, whose worth Caroline never fully realized till now. Roma, whose only fault was that she couldn't understand why everyone didn't love Archaeology. She brought Caroline out of her doldrums, set her almost free from Pietro's grasp. Then Roma too, is gone.
Caroline must and will find out the truth of her disappearance, she won't believe the stories she has been told, they just can't be right! So she goes to Kent, the very place her sister disappeared, but someone there doesn't want her to know, and they will do anything, anything at all to stop her. By the time she finds the secret of The Shivering Sands, it may all be too late…
Worse, insanity may be hidden in the crevasses of Kent's countryside, waiting for her to pass within reach of the long, entangling fingers. The sea is a very long way down, and the sucking, bubbling sands are ready for another burial to be hidden in their depths…
(The White Cliffs of Dover)
Loved it, words can not describe the tingling sensation The Shivering Sands gave me. I am afraid that if I let myself put faces to the names that it will be too real, that the terror will over run me and I too, will be like the masts sticking up awkwardly from the sea.
I didn't always like Caroline, she was an idiot. Why did she marry that Pietro? He thought he was better than her, and I hated his high-handedness. Some of the other characters I didn't like either. Napier was unknowingly cruel; though how he didn't realize it I don't know. His wife would be reduced to a shaking leaf because he was trying to help her through her fears. He only made them worse. All because he wanted a "wife he could be proud of". What about her?! What kind of husband did she want? Did he think of that? No! Arrgh!
Other than that, I only liked Alice, she was so sweet. Innocent. Pure. Obedient. Grave Alice. This poem Alice quoted sums the story up:
"From my study, I see in the lamplight
Decending the broad hall stair
Grave Alice and Laughing Allegra
And Edith with the golden hair
A whisper and then a silence;
Yet I know by their merry eyes
They are plotting and planning together
To take me by surprise."
(Page 56)
As for the murderer, (he/she) was delightful unexpected and creepy.
PG for talk of Love Children, Mistresses and of course, murder. As well as a "hand reading", however it's a bit like Mr. Rochester's gypsy game in Jane Eyre
May 30, 2015
What a tangled web she weaves! And what fun for the reader to untangle slowly along with Caroline.
This hits all the right buttons for me. We have intriguing conversations, mysterious goings-on but not too dark as to be depressing, a variety of strange characters, tons of atmosphere, strong female protagonist with a passion (music). This actually keeps reminding me of Rebecca but I like this much better. I was not bored for a minute with this and it is not as dreary. I love that so much happens -never a dull moment. There are so many possible culprits here and I thought I figured it out but nope. Just a little bit of innocent romance is the icing on the cake. Not to mention, castles, seaside, Roman ruins...
We never really know when this takes place exactly but I would put it in the mid to late 1800s. There is a Wilkie Collins reference and no cars, only trains.
A couple little things I would change. Why does the protagonist always venture out alone in the night repeatedly when she knows there is danger afoot? Why does the right person always appear at the right time? Why does Caroline not show more emotion with respect to the disappearance of her sister?
Still, I am thrilled to have read my first Holt, she is a top notch writer and I will surely read many more. My copy (2013) advertises that her books have sold over 100 million copies - I had no idea. *pulls head out of sand* 4.5
This hits all the right buttons for me. We have intriguing conversations, mysterious goings-on but not too dark as to be depressing, a variety of strange characters, tons of atmosphere, strong female protagonist with a passion (music). This actually keeps reminding me of Rebecca but I like this much better. I was not bored for a minute with this and it is not as dreary. I love that so much happens -never a dull moment. There are so many possible culprits here and I thought I figured it out but nope. Just a little bit of innocent romance is the icing on the cake. Not to mention, castles, seaside, Roman ruins...
We never really know when this takes place exactly but I would put it in the mid to late 1800s. There is a Wilkie Collins reference and no cars, only trains.
A couple little things I would change. Why does the protagonist always venture out alone in the night repeatedly when she knows there is danger afoot? Why does the right person always appear at the right time? Why does Caroline not show more emotion with respect to the disappearance of her sister?
Still, I am thrilled to have read my first Holt, she is a top notch writer and I will surely read many more. My copy (2013) advertises that her books have sold over 100 million copies - I had no idea. *pulls head out of sand* 4.5
November 13, 2025
Hmm, definite mixed feelings about this one but overall I enjoyed it. I almost guessed the villain but not quite. Actually, I found that part to be the strangest. Shivering for sure!
I'm adding to my review because a distance of a day since I finished has given me a more nuanced memory of this novel. I did find the ending rather disturbing and the romance slightly underwhelming (just not enough of it). But I loved the cast of characters and the complexity of the mystery. I love the suspicion that Holt casts on each character in turn so that I found myself suspicious of every character (except the right one!). So that is quite masterful on Holt's part. This is also an excellent example of a novel with a house (Lovat Stacy) at the center of the mystery with this incredibly dysfunctional family. There is great hope at the end that a major corner has been turned.
I also liked our narrator so much, Mrs. Caroline Verlaine. She is a pianist and made a decision to marry a fellow pianist rather than pursue her own music career. When she arrives at the house, Lovat Stacy, to teach music, she is carrying a lot of grief with her from her chaotic marriage and, now the loss of her sister. The ideas of how to heal from complicated grief and what is means to pursue one's artistic gift are explored subtly but well. Bumping up my rating to a 4.
I'm adding to my review because a distance of a day since I finished has given me a more nuanced memory of this novel. I did find the ending rather disturbing and the romance slightly underwhelming (just not enough of it). But I loved the cast of characters and the complexity of the mystery. I love the suspicion that Holt casts on each character in turn so that I found myself suspicious of every character (except the right one!). So that is quite masterful on Holt's part. This is also an excellent example of a novel with a house (Lovat Stacy) at the center of the mystery with this incredibly dysfunctional family. There is great hope at the end that a major corner has been turned.
I also liked our narrator so much, Mrs. Caroline Verlaine. She is a pianist and made a decision to marry a fellow pianist rather than pursue her own music career. When she arrives at the house, Lovat Stacy, to teach music, she is carrying a lot of grief with her from her chaotic marriage and, now the loss of her sister. The ideas of how to heal from complicated grief and what is means to pursue one's artistic gift are explored subtly but well. Bumping up my rating to a 4.
August 9, 2017
***2017 Summer Lovin’ Reading List ***
In many ways, this is a very dated Gothic romance—after all, it was first published in 1969. I’m pretty sure that I read it as a teenager, but it must not have been part of my personal collection, because this reading felt like I was enjoying it for the first time. There are enough differences from Holt’s usual romance formula to make it feel a bit fresher plot-wise too.
A young widow, Caroline Verlaine, takes a position as music teacher at an estate close to excavated Roman ruins where her sister had been working as an archaeologist, only to disappear under mysterious circumstances. Concealing her relationship to the missing woman, Caroline tries to trace her missing sister. There are no poisonous distant relatives, exiling Caroline to a tedious life of uninspired pupils, penury, and living below stairs. She has freely chosen her position for a specific reason, she has an undeniable talent for music, and is therefore much less rebellious than other Holt heroines.
Of course, further disappearances occur and there are mysterious goings-on that lure Caroline into dangerous situations. If I have any complaints, it is that the ending was a bit abrupt and completely predictable. I felt the heroine’s choice should have been just a bit more difficult, requiring a just bit more agonizing than occurred. The book ends suddenly with Caroline’s choice, giving no insight into what happens to numerous other characters who formed an integral part of the story.
Still, in this genre, this was a very enjoyable novel.
In many ways, this is a very dated Gothic romance—after all, it was first published in 1969. I’m pretty sure that I read it as a teenager, but it must not have been part of my personal collection, because this reading felt like I was enjoying it for the first time. There are enough differences from Holt’s usual romance formula to make it feel a bit fresher plot-wise too.
A young widow, Caroline Verlaine, takes a position as music teacher at an estate close to excavated Roman ruins where her sister had been working as an archaeologist, only to disappear under mysterious circumstances. Concealing her relationship to the missing woman, Caroline tries to trace her missing sister. There are no poisonous distant relatives, exiling Caroline to a tedious life of uninspired pupils, penury, and living below stairs. She has freely chosen her position for a specific reason, she has an undeniable talent for music, and is therefore much less rebellious than other Holt heroines.
Of course, further disappearances occur and there are mysterious goings-on that lure Caroline into dangerous situations. If I have any complaints, it is that the ending was a bit abrupt and completely predictable. I felt the heroine’s choice should have been just a bit more difficult, requiring a just bit more agonizing than occurred. The book ends suddenly with Caroline’s choice, giving no insight into what happens to numerous other characters who formed an integral part of the story.
Still, in this genre, this was a very enjoyable novel.
April 30, 2015
Plenty of Gothic fun and suspense. I found it too implausible for full enjoyment, but once I deliberately suspended disbelief it was an easy and diverting read.
I have too literal a mind for some kinds of books and I tend to take a very dim view of abusive men with dark pasts. My inner Mr. Spock kept getting in the way, too, noting that there were rather too many crazy people wandering around Lovat Mill, that everyone seemed to be hiding an improbable number of secrets, and that quicksand does not work quite the way the book suggests.
You'll enjoy it if you're in the mood for dark heroes, dark shadows and a spooky tale well told.
Content rating: PG. No sex or bloody scenes, but a nasty murderer, suggested paranormal happenings and plenty of nut-cases and out-of wedlock babies.
I have too literal a mind for some kinds of books and I tend to take a very dim view of abusive men with dark pasts. My inner Mr. Spock kept getting in the way, too, noting that there were rather too many crazy people wandering around Lovat Mill, that everyone seemed to be hiding an improbable number of secrets, and that quicksand does not work quite the way the book suggests.
You'll enjoy it if you're in the mood for dark heroes, dark shadows and a spooky tale well told.
Content rating: PG. No sex or bloody scenes, but a nasty murderer, suggested paranormal happenings and plenty of nut-cases and out-of wedlock babies.
August 18, 2018
An entertaining gothic just as I remembered.
I have been revisiting the gothics of my mother and my teen years. I am certain I would have rated this very highly when I was younger. I've picked this up at this time as part of a buddy read. Atmospheric and intriguing it was more predictable than my younger self would have thought. But still a good experience and I do recommend it. I've got a few more Holts around I look forward to sinking into.
I have been revisiting the gothics of my mother and my teen years. I am certain I would have rated this very highly when I was younger. I've picked this up at this time as part of a buddy read. Atmospheric and intriguing it was more predictable than my younger self would have thought. But still a good experience and I do recommend it. I've got a few more Holts around I look forward to sinking into.
March 2, 2017
This whole book irked the life out of me. I get that Holt is writing Gothic romances, but she always seems to take the worst parts of Mr. Rochester (Jane Eyre) and Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights) and uses that to make the male heroes in these stories. I think Heathcliff was terrible by the way for anyone that is ready to jump at me in the comments. I think due to the last book and this one I am going to pass on Holt for a second even though most of her books are available to borrow at my library right now.
Besides the above mentioned issues I had with the hero, "Shivering Sands" has one of the most nonsensical plots I have read this year. And don't forget, I read "Holly" by Jude Deveraux so that's saying something.
We follow the character of Caroline Verlaine as she goes about investigating (poorly) at Lovat Stacy to find out more about her older sister's Roma's disappearance. Though for most of the book she just blunders along and runs around defending Napier Stacy (sorry getting ahead of myself here.
The book starts off a bit off (at least to me) when we find out that Caroline is a widow. Caroline we find is a bit of an odd duck. She comes from a family of archaeologists, but she has a natural aptitude for the piano. Her family is not very rich, but they manage to send her off to Paris to get lessons. There she falls in love with a self absorbed man who she says repeatedly was a genius (Pietro). Due to Pietro being a genius she is told by a teacher and even by her husband in his actions and words that she is there to merely prop him up and tell him how great he is. He does not want her playing the piano since that would in some way take away from his awesomeness. I was really happy when Pietro died.
Recovering from Pietro's death then has Caroline going off to see her sister who is near Lovat Stacy looking into some Roman ruins that are nearby. The action does not get going until after we have Caroline finding out about her sister's disappearance. She then through a ridiculous circumstance is given the opportunity to teach the piano at Lovat Stacy for three young women who live there and the nearby vicarage.
Caroline feels something is off at Lovat Stacy after finding about the the estranged son of the Stacy household (Napier) is finally back, ready to marry a ward of the Stacy household, Edith. Even though Caroline is told countless stories about Napier and how he caused his older brother's Beau's death, she feels angry anytime tells her about what a bad guy he is. There interactions are also short and often leave her angry. He has a way about him that is reminiscent of her dead husband's. I honestly didn't get the romance here at all. We eventually get an explanation regarding Napier that I had a hard time believing, it didn't even make sense.
We get additional characters in this one that may be hard to follow. Besides Caroline and Edith, we also get Sylvia, Allegra, and Alice. After a while my brain just started getting overloaded to switching between them and the other characters (like the Stacy housekeeper) and I think Mr. Stacy's sister who was off as well.
The writing was okay, it definitely made me think of books like Jane Eyre. I just wish I cared more about anything that was happening.
The flow was not good in this one though. If you are waiting for anything to happen, just skip to the end (honestly I did to see who was behind things and then went back to reading again) and read the ridiculous explanations that follow.
The setting of Stacy Lovat could have been something with the so-called "Shivering Sands" but I felt blah towards it. I just got down reading "Murder is Easy" and the village of Wychwood under Ashe felt more mysterious and dark.
As I said above, I booed the ending since for me I wish that Holt had her heroine realize that running off with a facsimile of her dead husband maybe wasn't a hot idea.
Besides the above mentioned issues I had with the hero, "Shivering Sands" has one of the most nonsensical plots I have read this year. And don't forget, I read "Holly" by Jude Deveraux so that's saying something.
We follow the character of Caroline Verlaine as she goes about investigating (poorly) at Lovat Stacy to find out more about her older sister's Roma's disappearance. Though for most of the book she just blunders along and runs around defending Napier Stacy (sorry getting ahead of myself here.
The book starts off a bit off (at least to me) when we find out that Caroline is a widow. Caroline we find is a bit of an odd duck. She comes from a family of archaeologists, but she has a natural aptitude for the piano. Her family is not very rich, but they manage to send her off to Paris to get lessons. There she falls in love with a self absorbed man who she says repeatedly was a genius (Pietro). Due to Pietro being a genius she is told by a teacher and even by her husband in his actions and words that she is there to merely prop him up and tell him how great he is. He does not want her playing the piano since that would in some way take away from his awesomeness. I was really happy when Pietro died.
Recovering from Pietro's death then has Caroline going off to see her sister who is near Lovat Stacy looking into some Roman ruins that are nearby. The action does not get going until after we have Caroline finding out about her sister's disappearance. She then through a ridiculous circumstance is given the opportunity to teach the piano at Lovat Stacy for three young women who live there and the nearby vicarage.
Caroline feels something is off at Lovat Stacy after finding about the the estranged son of the Stacy household (Napier) is finally back, ready to marry a ward of the Stacy household, Edith. Even though Caroline is told countless stories about Napier and how he caused his older brother's Beau's death, she feels angry anytime tells her about what a bad guy he is. There interactions are also short and often leave her angry. He has a way about him that is reminiscent of her dead husband's. I honestly didn't get the romance here at all. We eventually get an explanation regarding Napier that I had a hard time believing, it didn't even make sense.
We get additional characters in this one that may be hard to follow. Besides Caroline and Edith, we also get Sylvia, Allegra, and Alice. After a while my brain just started getting overloaded to switching between them and the other characters (like the Stacy housekeeper) and I think Mr. Stacy's sister who was off as well.
The writing was okay, it definitely made me think of books like Jane Eyre. I just wish I cared more about anything that was happening.
The flow was not good in this one though. If you are waiting for anything to happen, just skip to the end (honestly I did to see who was behind things and then went back to reading again) and read the ridiculous explanations that follow.
The setting of Stacy Lovat could have been something with the so-called "Shivering Sands" but I felt blah towards it. I just got down reading "Murder is Easy" and the village of Wychwood under Ashe felt more mysterious and dark.
As I said above, I booed the ending since for me I wish that Holt had her heroine realize that running off with a facsimile of her dead husband maybe wasn't a hot idea.
September 4, 2024
From 1969
The Shivering Sands refers to quicksand.
A well written Gothic Romance, really better written than most like this I’ve read. Deals with Roman remains on British soil. This is interesting.
The Shivering Sands refers to quicksand.
A well written Gothic Romance, really better written than most like this I’ve read. Deals with Roman remains on British soil. This is interesting.
July 24, 2018
This was a chance read - a copy was lying about my ancestral house (the place which collects books, as I remarked once) and being stuck without anything to read, I sank my teeth into this one. And it was a very satisfying experience. I remember very less of it: only the first person narrator (a young widow caught between conflicting feelings for two men) and the method of murder, which was blood-curdlingly satisfying.
October 3, 2023
Mistress of Mellyn has been dethroned as my favorite Victoria Holt novel. I adored this book. Eerie, wonderfully convoluted and juicy!
PS: It was unintentionally hilarious that the protagonist was always more interested in this family’s business than in finding out what happened to her sister. She’d remember the poor sister sporadically and then immediately get back to getting her nose into some unimportant gossip about the family. 🤣
PS: It was unintentionally hilarious that the protagonist was always more interested in this family’s business than in finding out what happened to her sister. She’d remember the poor sister sporadically and then immediately get back to getting her nose into some unimportant gossip about the family. 🤣
January 21, 2023
Although I do well realise that many readers seem to consider Victoria Holt’s 1969 The Shivering Sands a classic of Gothic romance and mystery, personally, I have found Holt’s presented narrative so predictable and so massively formulaic that not only am I ecstatic to finally be done with The Shivering Sands, I also kept falling asleep whilst reading and had to constantly force myself to continue with my perusal (because well, there is nothing really within the pages of The Shivering Sands that has truly textually spoken to me, nothing that has given me any kind of lasting reading pleasure, and yes indeed, I was in fact and actually just pretty much massively bored from basically page one right to the end). For not only do I find both main narrator Caroline Verlaine and her “love interest” Napier Stacy neither personable nor really all that interesting (and ALL of the characters stereotypes at best), I also kind of knew from how Victoria Holt incessantly focusses on Alice Lincroft that of course she would be the main villain, leaving no real mystery for me to solve and discover in The Shivering Sands except to be annoyed at just how obvious Alice as main antagonist presents herself to be (because as soon as her character is introduced, not only did all of my alarm bells go off simultaneously, but really, that Alice Lincroft is not to be trusted does become pretty clear right away, even though none of the characters, including first person narrator and chief protagonist Caroline Verlaine, seem to be aware of this until right at the end of The Shivering Sands).
And really, the only reason why my rating for The Shivering Sands is still two stars and not one star is that I do indeed think Victoria Holt has done a very good if not even an exceptional job with her featured setting, with describing the countryside around Dover and the menace of the so called shivering sands (because I really and truly have not at all enjoyed the storyline of The Shivering Sands, and if truth be told, I only kept reading due to both a feeling of necessity and because I was in fact kind of enjoying the author’s land and seascape depictions).
And really, the only reason why my rating for The Shivering Sands is still two stars and not one star is that I do indeed think Victoria Holt has done a very good if not even an exceptional job with her featured setting, with describing the countryside around Dover and the menace of the so called shivering sands (because I really and truly have not at all enjoyed the storyline of The Shivering Sands, and if truth be told, I only kept reading due to both a feeling of necessity and because I was in fact kind of enjoying the author’s land and seascape depictions).
November 25, 2013
4 and 1/2 Stars - A love story wrapped in a mystery!
Set in the late Victorian era, this is the story of Caroline Verlaine, a young widow, who has lost her archeologist parents and her brilliant pianist husband to untimely deaths, and now her sister Roma has disappeared. Determined to find Roma, who went missing while on a dig in Dover, England, Caroline, who is a pianist herself, takes a job in the area—as a resident piano teacher to Sir William Stacy’s three young charges. One of the girls is the illegitimate daughter of the heir, Napier Sands, and another of the young women is his wife.
Caroline tells no one she is the sister of the missing woman. Soon, she finds there are other mysteries at the Stacy home, including Napier’s past in which he killed his older brother, in what may or may not have been an accident, and the “shivering” sands off shore that swallow ships. Caring little for his young wife, who is afraid of him, Napier makes a project out of Caroline, telling her, “You and I are like those ships. We are caught in the shivering sands of the past. We shall never escape because we are held fast, held by our memories and other people’s opinions of us.”
When a new curate shows up at the village, he joins Caroline in solving the mystery of what happened to her sister, and what is now Napier’s missing wife. And danger draws close as Caroline’s life is threatened.
Holt did an excellent job of creating a mystery with no clear villain but many who had motives. And despite that it takes place in virtually one location, there is much happening with some great secondary characters, including Sybil, the batty old sister of Sir William, Napier’s father, and of course, the three young women. At one point I thought the mystery itself dragged a bit, but as with all novels by Holt, the finish is excellent.
It’s a mystery, a love story and a story of new beginnings, choices and redemption. Told from the first person, you are only in Caroline’s head but the hearts of others are revealed through dialog. A worthy read, I recommend it.
Set in the late Victorian era, this is the story of Caroline Verlaine, a young widow, who has lost her archeologist parents and her brilliant pianist husband to untimely deaths, and now her sister Roma has disappeared. Determined to find Roma, who went missing while on a dig in Dover, England, Caroline, who is a pianist herself, takes a job in the area—as a resident piano teacher to Sir William Stacy’s three young charges. One of the girls is the illegitimate daughter of the heir, Napier Sands, and another of the young women is his wife.
Caroline tells no one she is the sister of the missing woman. Soon, she finds there are other mysteries at the Stacy home, including Napier’s past in which he killed his older brother, in what may or may not have been an accident, and the “shivering” sands off shore that swallow ships. Caring little for his young wife, who is afraid of him, Napier makes a project out of Caroline, telling her, “You and I are like those ships. We are caught in the shivering sands of the past. We shall never escape because we are held fast, held by our memories and other people’s opinions of us.”
When a new curate shows up at the village, he joins Caroline in solving the mystery of what happened to her sister, and what is now Napier’s missing wife. And danger draws close as Caroline’s life is threatened.
Holt did an excellent job of creating a mystery with no clear villain but many who had motives. And despite that it takes place in virtually one location, there is much happening with some great secondary characters, including Sybil, the batty old sister of Sir William, Napier’s father, and of course, the three young women. At one point I thought the mystery itself dragged a bit, but as with all novels by Holt, the finish is excellent.
It’s a mystery, a love story and a story of new beginnings, choices and redemption. Told from the first person, you are only in Caroline’s head but the hearts of others are revealed through dialog. A worthy read, I recommend it.
December 27, 2010
I read this book in high school/college and loved it. I vividly remember the day I finished reading it because I was alone in the house and ran out in the summer sunshine to be with my mother and sister because the ending was so creepy to me. I have NEVER forgotten it or the way it made me feel.
May 25, 2017
I wonder how so many readers have given this book high ratings saying it was spooky, eerie and one of Holt’s best. I totally disagree with them. In fact, I purchased the book because of these good ratings.
‘The India Fan’ was way better and much more engrossing than this book.
Some observations:
a) The mystery takes a backseat when Caroline goes to stay at Lovat Stacy, just because she does not want people to know her relation with Roma. She hardly does any investigation.
b) Were the police not involved when Roma disappeared? What were their findings/ conclusions? Caroline makes no effort to find this.
c) Caroline keeps regretting that she had to give up her music career, numerous times. But did women in the late Victorian era really have careers? And were they so serious about pursuing a career?
d) There are repetitive dialogues between Napier and Caroline. I have lost count as to how many times this was said:
Napier: I killed my brother.
Caroline: It was an accident.
From this, Napier just appears to be some sort of cry baby who needs comforting.
e) The ending is rushed. The culprit and all explanations given seem absurd.
f) Is there a Miss Havisham-like character in every Holt book? (There was one in ‘The India Fan’ too.)
‘The India Fan’ was way better and much more engrossing than this book.
Some observations:
a) The mystery takes a backseat when Caroline goes to stay at Lovat Stacy, just because she does not want people to know her relation with Roma. She hardly does any investigation.
b) Were the police not involved when Roma disappeared? What were their findings/ conclusions? Caroline makes no effort to find this.
c) Caroline keeps regretting that she had to give up her music career, numerous times. But did women in the late Victorian era really have careers? And were they so serious about pursuing a career?
d) There are repetitive dialogues between Napier and Caroline. I have lost count as to how many times this was said:
Napier: I killed my brother.
Caroline: It was an accident.
From this, Napier just appears to be some sort of cry baby who needs comforting.
e) The ending is rushed. The culprit and all explanations given seem absurd.
f) Is there a Miss Havisham-like character in every Holt book? (There was one in ‘The India Fan’ too.)
December 20, 2012
This was my first victoria holt novel and i was 15 years then. The cover of the book had a haunting looking girl with waves of water around her.It was this cover that made me read i was still young and new to the world of books and this was a author and Genre unknown to me.I was in for a treat. It was the most suspenseful book ever and many years later after having read countless holt books i can safely say that this is her best work.
January 29, 2018
In my early teens I devoured romantic suspense books by Mary Stewart, Phyllis Whitney and, of course, Victoria Holt. Several Victoria Holt gothics have now been released in e-format. I grabbed this one up as a daily deal and had lots of fun reading it. Published originally in 1969, it follows Holt's tried-and-true formula and has some interesting moments even though it's not her best work.
The heroine here is a recently-widowed Caroline Verlaine, whose late husband was a virtuoso pianist. Caroline, a pianist in her own right, subordinated her own talent to that of her husband and now is at a crossroads in her life as to how to make a living. Now alone, she reconnects with her archeologist sister Roma, only to learn that just a short while after her visit to see her, Roma has mysteriously disappeared.
Caroline finds a position as piano teacher in the Stacy household, close to the dig where her sister had been working. She's determined to find out what happened to Roma but is somewhat sidetracked by life in the difficult Stacy household, which contains interesting characters such as the ailing head of family Sir William; his dark and brooding son Napier with a tragic secret in his past; creepily strange Sybil, sister of Sir William; the enigmatic housekeeper; and three young girls with somewhat intriguing parentage and suspicious behavior. Add to the mix the neighborhood vicar, his daughter and his meddlesome wife and his curate. And we mustn't forget the shivering quicksands of the novel's title and the possible ghosts haunting the Stacy grounds.
Put these ingredients together with Holt's storytelling skill and you have a classic gothic romance. The characters are developed well and the story moves along nicely for the first half of the book. I found the third quarter of the book to be slow and somewhat repetitious but Holt makes up for it nicely with a smashing ending. I had pretty much narrowed the murderer down to one or two characters but still found the why and the how of the murders to be unexpected.
The heroine here is a recently-widowed Caroline Verlaine, whose late husband was a virtuoso pianist. Caroline, a pianist in her own right, subordinated her own talent to that of her husband and now is at a crossroads in her life as to how to make a living. Now alone, she reconnects with her archeologist sister Roma, only to learn that just a short while after her visit to see her, Roma has mysteriously disappeared.
Caroline finds a position as piano teacher in the Stacy household, close to the dig where her sister had been working. She's determined to find out what happened to Roma but is somewhat sidetracked by life in the difficult Stacy household, which contains interesting characters such as the ailing head of family Sir William; his dark and brooding son Napier with a tragic secret in his past; creepily strange Sybil, sister of Sir William; the enigmatic housekeeper; and three young girls with somewhat intriguing parentage and suspicious behavior. Add to the mix the neighborhood vicar, his daughter and his meddlesome wife and his curate. And we mustn't forget the shivering quicksands of the novel's title and the possible ghosts haunting the Stacy grounds.
Put these ingredients together with Holt's storytelling skill and you have a classic gothic romance. The characters are developed well and the story moves along nicely for the first half of the book. I found the third quarter of the book to be slow and somewhat repetitious but Holt makes up for it nicely with a smashing ending. I had pretty much narrowed the murderer down to one or two characters but still found the why and the how of the murders to be unexpected.
May 18, 2012
Carolina Verlaine suffered tragedies. Her parents, both archeologists, died in a train crash in route to a dig. She forfeited a promising career as a pianist in deference to her husband Pietro who was more talented, but he dies, leaving Carolina a widow at age 28. Then Carolina’s only sister, Roma Brandon, also an archeologist, disappears just as her team finishes excavating Roman ruins at the Lovat Stacy estate in eastern England. Carolina’s former piano teacher who is teaching four young women at Lovat Stacy decides to retire and recommends Carolina to replace her, but without mentioning to her employer that Carolina is Roma’s sister. Carolina, determined to learn what happened to her Roma, accepts the position without revealing her relationship to Roma.
The story, in the 1880s, is set in near Deal on the eastern shores of the United Kingdom. Four to six miles east of Deal, across the Downs channel, lays the Goodwin Sands, shifting quicksand. Over the past couple centuries, the Goodwin Sands became the graveyard for an estimated 2000 vessels. Although Lovat Stacy and the nearby village, Lovat Mill, are fictional, the actual village Martin Mill appears to be close to the fictional setting between the exiting Walmer and Dover castles.
The story gradually reveals the tragedies of the Stacy household over the past several decades leading to the conflicts and intrigues in the narrative present. SHIVERING SANDS is well written in the first person, giving Carolina the only point of view, which keeps the reader engaged in trying to solve the mysteries of Lovat Stacy along with her.
After reading three best selling contemporary romance thrillers, which I rated three stars, I found THE SHIVERING SANDS without a dust jacket amongst our books of unknown origin. I began reading it without knowing the genre. What a nice surprise. This is a five-star historical, romance, mystery, psychological thriller.
The story, in the 1880s, is set in near Deal on the eastern shores of the United Kingdom. Four to six miles east of Deal, across the Downs channel, lays the Goodwin Sands, shifting quicksand. Over the past couple centuries, the Goodwin Sands became the graveyard for an estimated 2000 vessels. Although Lovat Stacy and the nearby village, Lovat Mill, are fictional, the actual village Martin Mill appears to be close to the fictional setting between the exiting Walmer and Dover castles.
The story gradually reveals the tragedies of the Stacy household over the past several decades leading to the conflicts and intrigues in the narrative present. SHIVERING SANDS is well written in the first person, giving Carolina the only point of view, which keeps the reader engaged in trying to solve the mysteries of Lovat Stacy along with her.
After reading three best selling contemporary romance thrillers, which I rated three stars, I found THE SHIVERING SANDS without a dust jacket amongst our books of unknown origin. I began reading it without knowing the genre. What a nice surprise. This is a five-star historical, romance, mystery, psychological thriller.
March 3, 2017
I'm counting this as my Gothic romance for the Unapologetic Romance Readers challenge, although I will probably read many more Gothics before the year is done. For some reason, this genre is my literary comfort food, probably because the genre was so popular when I was growing up, and the image from so many Gothic covers, of a young woman in a flowing white dress running through the darkness, with a ruined castle or mansion in the background, is emblazoned deep within my psyche. But the genre does have a few little quirks, such as a tendency for too stupid to live heroines and brooding, arrogant heroes, with lots and lots of dramatic tension and yet so little actual romance.
This book demonstrated both what's good and bad about the genre, except for the TSTL heroine. I haven't read a lot of Victoria Holt, but so far, I have to say that her heroines--such as Caroline Verlaine, in this novel--are level-headed, sensible and accomplished. Caroline a talented musician, and her sister Roma--who has disappeared--was an archaeologist. Also, bonus points for making Caroline a widow instead of a shrinking virgin. The other genre foibles hold true, however, and the romance itself was barely tepid.
As for the story, Caroline takes on the position of music teacher at an estate in the English countryside, both because she needs to earn a living and because she hopes to discover what happened to her sister, who disappeared while excavating some Roman ruins on the property. There is a wacky cast of your typical Gothic characters, including the brooding and arrogant black sheep son, Napier Stacy, and a tragic backstory. Caroline behaves in a very proper and sensible manner until the ending, when the true villain is revealed. Overall, it was an average read that neither surprised nor disappointed me. Why do I love this genre so much? Honestly, I don't think I could explain it.
This book demonstrated both what's good and bad about the genre, except for the TSTL heroine. I haven't read a lot of Victoria Holt, but so far, I have to say that her heroines--such as Caroline Verlaine, in this novel--are level-headed, sensible and accomplished. Caroline a talented musician, and her sister Roma--who has disappeared--was an archaeologist. Also, bonus points for making Caroline a widow instead of a shrinking virgin. The other genre foibles hold true, however, and the romance itself was barely tepid.
As for the story, Caroline takes on the position of music teacher at an estate in the English countryside, both because she needs to earn a living and because she hopes to discover what happened to her sister, who disappeared while excavating some Roman ruins on the property. There is a wacky cast of your typical Gothic characters, including the brooding and arrogant black sheep son, Napier Stacy, and a tragic backstory. Caroline behaves in a very proper and sensible manner until the ending, when the true villain is revealed. Overall, it was an average read that neither surprised nor disappointed me. Why do I love this genre so much? Honestly, I don't think I could explain it.
March 20, 2008
It scores big points for gothic atmosphere, the heroine, and handling of the mystery, although the love story was a little too standard for my taste. But a certain part surprised me and was especially important, as it's something I believe in strongly and a choice I've also had to make, and am so glad I did. It alone made me love the book. :-)
(EDITED SO AS NOT TO CONTAIN TOO MUCH SPOILING)
My head told me, "Go right away from here and forget your nightmares. Live graciously, comfortable and easy."
"But," said my heart, "this is where you belong. Nightmares, perhaps. Memories. Devils to fight, his and your own. The past to mock you for having once more followed the call of the heart."
And when he came to me, he said, "You're going to be a fool. Everyone will tell you you're a fool."
"Not everyone," I said.
And I was confident. My heart would always win.
(EDITED SO AS NOT TO CONTAIN TOO MUCH SPOILING)
My head told me, "Go right away from here and forget your nightmares. Live graciously, comfortable and easy."
"But," said my heart, "this is where you belong. Nightmares, perhaps. Memories. Devils to fight, his and your own. The past to mock you for having once more followed the call of the heart."
And when he came to me, he said, "You're going to be a fool. Everyone will tell you you're a fool."
"Not everyone," I said.
And I was confident. My heart would always win.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 5, 2023
The widow of a concert pianist, is coming to terms with her grief, and having her career interrupted by her marriage. She looks for her missing sister in sunny Spain, where she gets involved with a mysterious creepy family. A little more blood, and Paul Naschy would feel right at home.
November 2, 2013
Previously reviewed on The Good, The Bad, & The Unread:
I’m absolutely loving the various authors and titles that Sourcebooks are resurrecting from the recent past. Victoria Holt is another of those that I’d vaguely heard of, but had never got around to reading before, and now I want to investigate more of her back catalogue. The Shivering Sands is a great introduction to her work, and had me figuratively on the edge of my seat at various points.
Written in 1969, and set in the latter part of the 19th Century, the novel tells the story of Caro, the younger daughter of two archaeologists, who has grown up in the shadow of their discoveries and of her sister, who is two years older and following in their parents’ footsteps. Caro, meanwhile, is a talented musician but puts her career on the back burner after she marries a musical genius, partly as a response to the unexpected death of her parents. When her husband also dies suddenly, Caro is comforted by her sister, now a talented archaeologist who is working on a dig in Kent.
Caro tries to restart her musical career, but then she receives the news that her sister has disappeared just as the dig is coming to an end. Caro returns to Kent and takes up a position as a music teacher in the house from whose grounds her sister disappeared, without telling anyone about her previous connection to the area. The family she works for is distinctly odd, as is the vicar’s daughter who takes her lessons with the three girls. Of those girls, the eldest is a legal ward of the house’s owner and recently married his errant son, Napier; one is Napier’s illegitimate daughter and one is the daughter of the housekeeper – although there may be more to her origins as we later discover.
As Caro investigates her sister’s disappearance, she is both drawn to and afraid of Napier, and her suspicions are further aroused following the mysterious disappearance of his young bride, who had been having an affair with the local curate. When a new curate arrives, he recognises Caro, but she manages to keep him from revealing her full identity to the others. They work together to uncover the secrets behind the disappearances and other mysterious happenings, but it slowly becomes obvious that the investigation is putting Caro’s life in danger.
Red herrings abound in this story, and the romance is nicely underplayed much of the time. The eventual solution to the mystery makes sense in terms of when the novel was written, although there’s one plot point I probably wouldn’t accept from a modern author. Caro’s final decision as to which man she wants to spend her life with also fits the characters and the era in which the book was written. I’m definitely a convert to the world of Victoria Holt and look forward to discovering more of her books.
I’m absolutely loving the various authors and titles that Sourcebooks are resurrecting from the recent past. Victoria Holt is another of those that I’d vaguely heard of, but had never got around to reading before, and now I want to investigate more of her back catalogue. The Shivering Sands is a great introduction to her work, and had me figuratively on the edge of my seat at various points.
Written in 1969, and set in the latter part of the 19th Century, the novel tells the story of Caro, the younger daughter of two archaeologists, who has grown up in the shadow of their discoveries and of her sister, who is two years older and following in their parents’ footsteps. Caro, meanwhile, is a talented musician but puts her career on the back burner after she marries a musical genius, partly as a response to the unexpected death of her parents. When her husband also dies suddenly, Caro is comforted by her sister, now a talented archaeologist who is working on a dig in Kent.
Caro tries to restart her musical career, but then she receives the news that her sister has disappeared just as the dig is coming to an end. Caro returns to Kent and takes up a position as a music teacher in the house from whose grounds her sister disappeared, without telling anyone about her previous connection to the area. The family she works for is distinctly odd, as is the vicar’s daughter who takes her lessons with the three girls. Of those girls, the eldest is a legal ward of the house’s owner and recently married his errant son, Napier; one is Napier’s illegitimate daughter and one is the daughter of the housekeeper – although there may be more to her origins as we later discover.
As Caro investigates her sister’s disappearance, she is both drawn to and afraid of Napier, and her suspicions are further aroused following the mysterious disappearance of his young bride, who had been having an affair with the local curate. When a new curate arrives, he recognises Caro, but she manages to keep him from revealing her full identity to the others. They work together to uncover the secrets behind the disappearances and other mysterious happenings, but it slowly becomes obvious that the investigation is putting Caro’s life in danger.
Red herrings abound in this story, and the romance is nicely underplayed much of the time. The eventual solution to the mystery makes sense in terms of when the novel was written, although there’s one plot point I probably wouldn’t accept from a modern author. Caro’s final decision as to which man she wants to spend her life with also fits the characters and the era in which the book was written. I’m definitely a convert to the world of Victoria Holt and look forward to discovering more of her books.
July 3, 2014
I used to love Victoria Holt's books back in the day, but rereading this one, I can't remember why. I had a hard time getting involved in the storyline or caught up in the romance, and I didn't find the mystery particularly suspenseful. It didn't help that I thought the heroine was rather dim for not figuring out what her pupils were up to (it seemed pretty obvious), and I found the hero too one-dimensional to be interesting, or maybe he just wasn't around enough to become a compelling character. The narrative felt like one dead-end scene after another of characters endlessly talking--about the past, about the present, about each other--but not doing a whole lot, and the heroine seemed to reach the same conclusions and resolutions over and over, which really made the story drag. Either my tastes have changed or this was not one of Ms. Holt's best.
August 8, 2014
The beginning of the book was more interesting than the last half because of the little bit of character development in the first half and also the setting was described well. Had a hard time figuring out when this was set - late 19th century? Very early 20th maybe?
I liked the heroine but the hero had me scratching my head. We're supposed to like this person? And the conversations between the two were just...weird.
The supporting characters were interesting but I kept getting all the girls mixed up - Sylvia, Allegra, Alice, and then Sybil (who was really strange although they did allow that she was just a little bit 'off' in the head).
I knew right away what had happened to Roma but couldn't figure out how. The Edith thing was a little strange. See, two more female characters to keep track of! sigh
I liked the heroine but the hero had me scratching my head. We're supposed to like this person? And the conversations between the two were just...weird.
The supporting characters were interesting but I kept getting all the girls mixed up - Sylvia, Allegra, Alice, and then Sybil (who was really strange although they did allow that she was just a little bit 'off' in the head).
I knew right away what had happened to Roma but couldn't figure out how. The Edith thing was a little strange. See, two more female characters to keep track of! sigh
May 26, 2015
3,5. The ending was unexpected.
March 25, 2020
All that and not one damn kiss. Not. One.
December 30, 2017
More reviews available at my blog, Beauty and the Bookworm.
A Gothic romance was my last category to read for my 2017 romance challenge with the Unapologetic Romance Readers group. I'd had The Shivering Sands picked out for quite a while, and saved it for the end of the challenge so I'd at least have one good category to look forward to after drudging through a bunch that I really didn't like. Someone once told me that Victoria Holt was the queen of Gothic romances, and so it seemed like a good choice--especially because I've already read the most iconic of Gothic romances, Daphne DeMaurier's Rebecca, Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, and Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre.
In the wake of the disappearance of her archaeologist sister Roma, Caroline takes on the position of music teacher for the manor in the town in which Roma disappeared. Going incognito, she hopes to make a living, distance herself from the death of her famous pianist husband, and possibly solve her sister's disappearance, as well. At Lovat Stacy, she becomes entwined with the three young women who live there, the returned prodigal son Napier who was responsible for his older brother's death, and the other strange and curious residents of both the manor and the surrounding area. When a second disappearance occurs and Caroline continues to investigate, she finds that she might be the next on the list of those to disappear. The title refers to the quicksands that lurk off the coast of Lovat Stacy, which have devoured ships whole, leaving only their masts to haunt the inhabits of the manor and town on the shore.
This was definitely a Gothic. It has a mystery, it has a gloomy atmosphere--the manor by the cold and stormy sea, the burned-out chapel in the copse. It has the characters who may or may not be guilty of terrible things on pretty much every front. It has a mad relative lurking in the wings to shake things up and make strangely insightful statements. It has a heroine with a boring and yet tragic past who pokes her nose into something larger than she, and who ends up deeper than she ever intended to be. Gothics are not fast-paced action novels and they don't tend to be steamy romances, either. Consequently, the pacing can be a bit slow, the heroines more introspective than in some other genres. That was certainly the case here. The romance is mild, with two love interests representing polar opposite futures vying for Caroline's hand--but it's clear that her mind is made up from the start, even as she fights against it in the name of logic. There's not a lot of wooing, or embraces, or anything like that. Instead, the romance is more the "drawn to you and I don't know why" type, but I think it works because it suits the atmosphere of the book. Caroline is, after all, drawn to Lovat Stacy and its inhabitants and she doesn't quite know why, being as she has already accepted that her sister is dead before she arrives.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It's slower, quieter, but the atmosphere was spot-on, the air of menace lurked over the whole thing, and I didn't manage to figure out who the individual behind the disappearances was. Of course I knew that quicksand was going to have to be involved in at least one case--the title of the book points that out on its own--but I didn't guess in what way, and the way Holt wrapped it all up was beautifully done as well. I would definitely read more by this author.
5 stars out of 5.
A Gothic romance was my last category to read for my 2017 romance challenge with the Unapologetic Romance Readers group. I'd had The Shivering Sands picked out for quite a while, and saved it for the end of the challenge so I'd at least have one good category to look forward to after drudging through a bunch that I really didn't like. Someone once told me that Victoria Holt was the queen of Gothic romances, and so it seemed like a good choice--especially because I've already read the most iconic of Gothic romances, Daphne DeMaurier's Rebecca, Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, and Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre.
In the wake of the disappearance of her archaeologist sister Roma, Caroline takes on the position of music teacher for the manor in the town in which Roma disappeared. Going incognito, she hopes to make a living, distance herself from the death of her famous pianist husband, and possibly solve her sister's disappearance, as well. At Lovat Stacy, she becomes entwined with the three young women who live there, the returned prodigal son Napier who was responsible for his older brother's death, and the other strange and curious residents of both the manor and the surrounding area. When a second disappearance occurs and Caroline continues to investigate, she finds that she might be the next on the list of those to disappear. The title refers to the quicksands that lurk off the coast of Lovat Stacy, which have devoured ships whole, leaving only their masts to haunt the inhabits of the manor and town on the shore.
This was definitely a Gothic. It has a mystery, it has a gloomy atmosphere--the manor by the cold and stormy sea, the burned-out chapel in the copse. It has the characters who may or may not be guilty of terrible things on pretty much every front. It has a mad relative lurking in the wings to shake things up and make strangely insightful statements. It has a heroine with a boring and yet tragic past who pokes her nose into something larger than she, and who ends up deeper than she ever intended to be. Gothics are not fast-paced action novels and they don't tend to be steamy romances, either. Consequently, the pacing can be a bit slow, the heroines more introspective than in some other genres. That was certainly the case here. The romance is mild, with two love interests representing polar opposite futures vying for Caroline's hand--but it's clear that her mind is made up from the start, even as she fights against it in the name of logic. There's not a lot of wooing, or embraces, or anything like that. Instead, the romance is more the "drawn to you and I don't know why" type, but I think it works because it suits the atmosphere of the book. Caroline is, after all, drawn to Lovat Stacy and its inhabitants and she doesn't quite know why, being as she has already accepted that her sister is dead before she arrives.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It's slower, quieter, but the atmosphere was spot-on, the air of menace lurked over the whole thing, and I didn't manage to figure out who the individual behind the disappearances was. Of course I knew that quicksand was going to have to be involved in at least one case--the title of the book points that out on its own--but I didn't guess in what way, and the way Holt wrapped it all up was beautifully done as well. I would definitely read more by this author.
5 stars out of 5.
January 29, 2024
Definitely shocking. The ending was so unexpected! (And this was my second time reading it. The first time must have been about fifty years ago.)
It is a page turner. I love the way Victoria Holt wrote.
The plot: Caroline, a highly trained concert pianist, gave up her career to support her pianist husband in his career instead. Unfortunately he dies then she finds out the only relative she has left, her sister, has gone missing from an archeological research site. Caroline decides to go there to find out what happened to her sister. To do this she accepts the position of piano teacher to a group of teenage girls.
100% clean. Now, on to my next Victoria Holt novel.
It is a page turner. I love the way Victoria Holt wrote.
The plot: Caroline, a highly trained concert pianist, gave up her career to support her pianist husband in his career instead. Unfortunately he dies then she finds out the only relative she has left, her sister, has gone missing from an archeological research site. Caroline decides to go there to find out what happened to her sister. To do this she accepts the position of piano teacher to a group of teenage girls.
100% clean. Now, on to my next Victoria Holt novel.
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