Tower Abbey

by Isabelle Holland

Book

Genres: Gothic, Romance, Crime, Mystery, Fiction

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Isabelle Christian Holland (born June 16, 1920 in Basel, Switzerland — died February 9, 2002) was an author of children and adult fiction. Her father was the American Consul in Liverpool, England during WWII. She moved to America in 1940 due to the war. She wrote Gothic novels, adult mysteries, romantic thrillers, and many books for children and young adults. She wrote over 50 books in her lifetime, and was still working at the time of her death at age 81 in New York City.

Two of her novels have been made into movies:

Bump in the Night, 1991,
The Man Without a Face, 1993

Both of these novels deal with issues or allegations of pedophilia.

Reviews

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Candida runs into Diana Egremont in New York. Diana was the rich girl with the looks and everything whike Candida was the vet’s daughter. Diana needs Candida’s help; she thinks she’s being haunted by the spirit of her twin sister, but she was an only child. Because she is losing her job and has been evicted, Candida accepts on the condition she can bring her animals (a dog, two Siamese cats, a rabbit, two gerbils, two turtles and her fish). When she gets to Tower Abbey, she discovers Simon Grant, her childhood crush is still alive (she has heard he was dead). Then there is Diana’s son, James, who is coming from England to live with her after the death of his father. There is intrigue, atmosphere (cold drafts), another childhood friend of Diana and Simon’s, Eric, and the fact that Diana’s needs to sell Tower Abbey, which has caused a divide in the community (the big developer or the private school). A very good read. Wish her books were easier to find.

[Li · Rating 3 out of 5]

My least favourite of Isabelle Holland's books so far, but I still liked it. She does modern Gothic American well, and this is probably the most gothic of the lot. Some seriously scary ghost and curses are present in this one (which may be why this didn’t work as well for me - I’m very much not a horror fan) and the villain is obvious from the start. I liked the heroine Candida (and her name!) and her animals, and Simon was the perfect hero-with-tortured-past.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Delightfully spooky old house and a generally fun menagerie of characters, human and animal. The romance angle was a little odd though, given the heroine believed the hero sexually assaulted her when she was a teen. (She was drunk on what she thought was fruit punch that turned out to have been spiked so didn't remember the actual events, but hazy details pointed in his direction.)

[Debi Emerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!