Hawkridge

by Jane Blackmore

Genres: Gothic

Paperback

First published June 1, 1976

About the author

Jane Blackmore, the daughter of an Army doctor, was born in Bangalore and spent the earlier part of her childhood there and in other parts of India. On finally reaching England, she went wherever her father's appointments took him ranging from cathedral towns to the Industrial Midlands and in her early teens to Egypt. It was during these years that she started to write. She attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, but gave up the stage, and with the coming of World War II returned to her early love of writing. Living in south-west London, Jane Blackmore was married twice and had three children.

Reviews

[Tamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story plays exactly as one would expect for a gothic paperback written in the 70s. The mood felt authentically gothic in the descriptions of the landscapes and heroine's inner turmoil. In that respect, it was fun to read. Also, that cover art is just perfection! I collect the old gothics and harlequins for their gorgeous covers, which is why I bought this in the first place.

However, I didn't like the way the author told this story. The writing was very confusing, as though the author assumed we would just 'get' what was going on without any explanation. It felt like we should already know these characters and their backgrounds when we didn't know they even existed. At times I thought I had missed pages only to realize, no, it's just the way the author writes.

There was lots of 'important information' being told to the heroine, Emma, that the reader is not privy to, which was weird, especially in a first person narrative, only to get the shocking answer to the 'mystery' a few pages later. I can only assume it was done to build tension, but I found it irritating. There was no point in having the heroine learn this information before the reader and have reader know she knows something we don't, if she was going to learn this information again, but more dramatically, and within mere pages of each other.

Prime example: there was no reason not to tell us Alexander's name when the heroine first heard it from her Aunt. We hadn't even been introduced to him, nor had the heroine, so it made zero difference learning the name when Emma does.

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. I didn't hate it, but I don't think it's one I'll go back to, therefore it gets my 3-star, maybe rating a 3.5 of "It was okay!"

Overall, it is a pretty standard Gothic Romance - perhaps with a bit (lot) less romance than you might expect, in comparison to what's available today. Emma, the main character, is recovering from losing her father and staying with an aunt out in the country. There she encounters the Brett family; Alexander, his Uncle Crispin, and his cousin Ulysses and is dragged into (forces her way into at some points) their family drama, which proves to be dangerous.

After a very rough introduction to the narrative (I almost put it down, as it felt like the author tried to cram too much flashback into what would otherwise be a suspenseful moment - though the information presented there all came into play later), the story picks up and moves at a steady pace all the way to the climax. The denouement was slightly disappointing but did tie up the story neatly; in a world of dangling threads that might lead to sequels, it's refreshing when I can read a stand-alone story.

When describing the plot to a friend and a stranger, I found myself thinking that the overall story would make for a great read - better than what I had in my hands. How, I'm not entirely positive. The author's work here isn't sub-par or particularly bad, but it doesn't stand out either.

Good enough for a rainy day read, especially for those interested in the genre!