The Lady in Yellow

by Alyne de Winter

Alternate cover edition of ASIN B007WGRXO6

Tonight will be a howling night, when the wolves will not be still...

You’ve heard of the Woman in White and the Woman in Black, now meet The Lady in Yellow


From an early age, Veronica Everly has had a hard life. After the deaths of her actor parents, left at age five with an alcoholic aunt, she ends up in a the Catholic orphanage of Saint Mary's to be cared for by the nuns. Now, approaching her nineteenth birthday, she is a hired as governess to two motherless children living in a stately home in the wilds of Yorkshire. Identical twins, Jacques and Jacqueline are also androgynous, magical, and clever enough to spook Veronica with their macabre fascinations.

When she meets their gorgeous father, Rafe de Grimston, Veronica is both attracted and repulsed by him. A mixture of tenderness and menace, dark secrets shadow his eyes, torment, and dread of his own nature.

Belden House proves to be wilder than Veronica could have dreamed. A mysterious bell tolls, wolves prowl the grounds, and under the full moon, a lady appears in an antique yellow gown whose eyes run red at the sight of Veronica.

What is the nature of the curse on Belden House? What is the source of the anguish that drives Rafe de Grimston away? What of the old church, Saint Lupine's, with its wolfish shrine? Who is the lady in yellow?

Veronica is faced with choices no one as young and inexperienced as her should ever have to make. Shall she do what she must to save those she has grown to love, and destroy her own soul?
Or does she flee, and allow evil to devour them all?

Formerly a well-received Novella, this Victorian Gothic Thriller is now revised and expanded to a full length Novel
Revised and Expanded 2013

Genres: Gothic, Paranormal, Horror, Historical Fiction, Fiction

366 pages, ebook

First published April 10, 2012

About the author

Scribbler of dark fantasies exploring the ancient folk memories, night religions, psychic transformations, in historical, mostly European settings.

Gothic Faery Tales, Gothic Romance and Occult Thrillers are her preferred genres.

Though she always loved to read Gothic Mysteries and ghost stories, it wasn't until she unwittingly moved into a haunted house in London that Alyne began writing supernatural fiction. Her loves are castles, ruins, cathedrals, forests, Grimm's fairy tales, Shakespeare, folk ballads, ancient cultures, mystery religions, the British ghost story and mystery writers.... All things eerie and spooky.

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Reviews

[Niyati Em · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are some books which absolutely knock you over your head. Some which make you wish you never had any other work so you could just read that book all day.

This is one of those books. I can't begin to say how much I have loved this book. Every bit of it.

The story starts off in a very Sound of Music like scene where Veronica, who never fits in with the nuns, is looking out for a job and is sent to Belden House.

Now, this house is a place where lot of misgivings happen. Old and ancient spirits roam and secrets are rife. And there are no answers. Why are the children so weird? What is that unexplained tolling bell? Why does Veronica have blackouts? What is the mystery surrounding Sovay, the twins' mother? Amidst all this maelstrom, can Veronica stop her heart from doing something foolish? When nobody gives her answers, can she find out the secret to the twins' eccentricities and uncover the secret of the Lady in Yellow?

So many questions! And a brilliant book full of thrilling and spooky events happening. It felt like reading an extended version of R.L Stine again from childhood.

When Veronica wouldn't get the answers she wanted, I would be confused too. The housekeeper Mrs. Twig displayed the classic signs of how to NOT deal with a problem. We all HATE dealing with problems, or getting into arguments. And so we AVOID. And that only exacerbates the original problem. I am glad Veronica persisted in her quest for the truth.

The other point I liked was that Veronica kept her faith. Science has argued for centuries about the non-existence of God. Yet miracles happen and we continue to experience atleast a small modicum of grace in our lives. I felt it was so nice that Veronica stuck to her faith in her God. It was great.

Indeed, like the book itself makes an analogy, Rafe de Grimston reminded me of the Beast from Beauty and the Beast with his brilliant blue eyes.

What do I even say about Sovay? What a character!!! Sent shivers down my spine every time she entered the picture.

I have absolutely enjoyed this book. I really recommend anyone and everyone to go for it!

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I cannot believe I stumbled upon this book for free. I was hooked within the first few pages - the characters are well written, the descriptions of the house - detailed and beautiful, and the suspense - palpable! It reminded me a lot of The Others, with maybe Dark Shadows and a little Rose Red thrown in there. It was fantastic. There was a little spot in the last third of the book where the action scenes and the emotions got just a little scattered, and slightly over the top (it was kind of "You MUST do this" "Oh but I CAN'T, I couldn't bear it" "But you HAVE to" "I MUST there is no other way… but ALAS, I cannot…"), but by that point, I was so hooked that it was an appreciable kind of over-the-top - that's where it made me think of Dark Shadows. : ) The occult stuff as far as the rules of certain mythical creatures was also a little different from the norm, but I didn't feel like it took anything away from the story. The only thing I can really say bugged me was that several times the characters would end a phrase with "or something", which seemed really out of place with the otherwise well-written time period dialogue. It was not used frequently, so it was not hard to get past it.
Everything came together at the end with a satisfactory resolution. Like any good ghostly story, there are some things left unexplained. Altogether, a wonderful gothic-suspense page turner with beautifully crafted characters - I especially liked the twins. Plenty of bizarre happenings and occult-type spiritualism - poppets and grimoires and dark magic.
I truly appreciate the fact that this was not a gory trashy horror novel. There was a romance aspect without any explicit content, which I really appreciated. The focus is the mystery/suspense. A read I would recommend to any fans of historical suspense.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A page-turning Gothic novel, complete with werewolves, visitors from the death and eerie twins. The author does a masterful job of creating a melancholic, creepy atmosphere.

[Stacey Gootee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting twist on old favorites....

Interesting twist on old favorites....

I gave this 4 stars as it was captivating and held my interest. I enjoyed the setting and storyline. There were a few twists that kept it interesting. I also liked that it was clean no bad language or adult scenes. I wasn't expecting an occult storyline so that was surprising.

[Gothicromantic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written, lushly atmospheric and enjoyable mix of werewolves and Victorian Gothic settings. Jane Eyre, Beauty and the beast, werewolves, Vampyre by Polidori... It is not horror - it´s unpolluted by foul language, gore, porn and other gross-out stuff. 4, 5.

[H. Bloom · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second Alyne de Winter’s book I’ve ever read. After reading ‘The Shadows’ I wanted to read more about Ms De Winter. I bought “The Lady In Yellow” and I’m happy I did that. I’ve become a fan of Alyne de Winter’s writing style and I love the gothic alike worlds she so beautifully creates. ‘The Lady In Yellow’ is a modern day gothic novel with many references to my beloved Jane Eyre. It’s so well written and the storyline is so interesting that captivates you. What is to like about this book?… There are train trips, the mysterious English countryside, a nautical tragedy, a feral child, libraries full of old and valuable books, ancestors’ portraits on the walls, a handsome wrecked man and a female main character that I loved. I enjoyed reading this book from the first page to the last. Make sure you have a cuppa and some biscuits aside while reading.

[ᑭᑌᑎƳᗩ [Punya Reviews...]]

As 'You set the price' on smashwords.

[Myra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was listed as a Gothic Mystery, thus I was expecting something along the lines of a Daphne du Maurier author, or Victoria Holt. Needless to say, I was disappointed. This book quickly took on a supernatural twist that did not draw in my interest. The dialog was too modern for the time period, and unfortunately the characters were not all that likeable. I don't recommend investing the time in this one. Frankly, I am surprised at the multiple 5-star ratings of this book. Sorry readers!

[Nwendu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was a good read only I could not wrap my head around the heroines naivety or I guess I should be plain and call it what it is, stupidity. It was left for for the truth to take a human form and come slapping her over the head and I'm sure she still won't have been able to get it. Or rather sometimes she gets it and then she doesn't anymore and then, oh she can see it, and the next moment she needs to be told again. It was tedious. I liked the storyline anyway.

[Art the Turtle of Amazing Girth · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.59

Jane Eyrewolves is what I'm calling this

Beware, the ending chapters can get confusing, a lot of stuff happening, might do better on a second read

Can't say too much more without spoilers,
Although, one downvote for me, was that the wolf girl, Tala honestly played no real part

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. Overall it is a good read. It tells a good story, but doesn't leave me with "feel good" mood that I like to have after reading it. I am not sure what I was expecting, since the gothic books today are just different from the ones that I grew up reading. I guess I just prefer the old castles with mysterious characters that you never figure out until the end. They contain the suspense, but not the occult, which was in this book. If you do not like vampires & werewolves, this will not be for you. I honestly have to give it a 4 star rating because it is a good book, but it is just not the usual type that I enjoy reading. Maybe it is all about the mood you are in when you start reading it.

[Jayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I purchased this digitally on eBay and I am glad I paid no more than a dollar for this. I checked, and Amazon has this book listed as a gothic romance mystery -- a genre I enjoy reading. It is not. This a paranormal mystery with some romance thrown in. It has to do with werewolves that become vampires... it just all got muddied. The way the father, Rafe was acting, leaving his children, a governess and two maids to face the horror of the full moon just made no sense.

3 Stars because the premise of the story held promise but the author just could not seem to unite everything.

I don't intend to read anymore by this author.

[Carollyn Rutherford · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too bad

The story was captivating. The printing of the book is all screwed. Pages safe repeated making it difficult to separate everything. I was determined in reading it and kept everything straight for the most part. With correct printing I would probably have given the book 3 or 4 stars.

[Beth King · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just ok

The ending was tedious and so was the lady in yellow. Phrases like "get the riot act" not customary to the Victorian age. Typos and grammatical errors. Otherwise could have been a very good read. Characters needed fleshing out and supernatural scenes needed to be less conspicuous and forced.

[Susan Doughty Truog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story with surprizes

Reminds me of Jane Eyre but it is not. Too much description would have liked more character interaction and conversations. Ending left me wondering if Savoy should not have been burnt she remains a threat. More info on twin characters needed to be fleshed out also others. Would recommend.

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall a good gothic horror story with a little bit of romance. Overall good pacing, though towards the end it seemed uneven - like it would go from slow to fast to slow again and again. Still overall a good creepy story that definitely get you making sure your covers are throughly tucked in.

[Tanya · Rating 2 out of 5]

choppy at best.

[Janet Shields · Rating 2 out of 5]

Scary

I have never read a more scary book. I don't believe in the occult. I won't read any more of her books

[Hafiza · Rating 1 out of 5]

A governess,
Two eerie twins
Dark and brooding hero.
And....... Werewolves.
Ugh