The Shrouded Walls & The Dark Shore

by Susan Howatch

The Shrouded Walls

When Marianne Fleury agreed to marry Axel Brandson, she thought she knew what to expect. He needed a wife to qualify for a large inheritance; she needed a wealthy husband to escape her impoverished existence. Taking up residence in the Brandson family estate, they greed it was to be a marriage of convenience.

But secluded in the rambling old house, Marianne realized she was falling in love with her new husband--despite the dreaded rumors she heard that implicated him in the murder of his father!

Suspense, danger, romance and sudden death all blend frighteningly in the high-ceilinged rooms of an 18th-century mansion.

The Dark Shore

The first little accidents didn't bother Sarah Hamilton. She was simply too happy to be worried. After all, having just become the bride of charming, enigmatic Jon Towers, why should she be anything but blissfully content?

But the "accidents" became more and more frequent...and Sarah's instincts warned her to run for her life.

She knew only that Jon's first wife, Sophia, had plunged to her death from a nearby cliff, under mysterious and very questionable circumstances. Was there some ghastly secret being covered up? Would Sarah be the next to die? If only she could uncover the truth about Sophia's death--before it was too late!

Genres: Gothic, Fiction, Romance

380 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Susan Howatch (b. 1940) is a British novelist who has penned bestselling mysteries, family sagas, and other novels. Howatch was born in Surrey, England. She began writing as a teen and published her first book when she moved to the United States in 1964. Howatch found global success first with her five sagas and then with her novels about the Church of England in the twentieth century. She has now returned to live in Surrey.

Reviews

[Carla Remy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Shrouded Walls

From 1968
Gothic Romances from the 1960s basically retell 19th century fiction but water it down so it is readable for late 20th century people (this describes what I’ve read by Dorothy Eden). There is also more kissing and physical love than you actually get in stories from the 1800s….. There is no kissing in Jane Austen books, only in the many movies of them.

[Diane Wachter]

This was one book with both stories in it. It was HB-M, and it was a Doubleday Book Club selection. @ different years, but I read them both one after the other, finishing on 5/20/1970. Fiction, mystery, romance. In The Shrouded Walls, @ 1968, After a marriage of convenience, the wife is falling for her husband, despite rumors that implicate him of the murder of his father.

In The Dark Shore, @ 1965, Newly married Sarah was not concerned about the little accidents that kept happening to her, but should she be? Jon's first wife plunged to her death from the cliffs.

IMO, both stories were 3 ☆'s = Good.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marianne and her brother find themselves orphaned at 17 and penniless. The solicitor sends a man to see Marianne and give her a proposition. He needs a wife and he will provide for her and her brother. This starts out good until they reach his home, inhabited by a step mother, step brothers and one of their wives.

This was a good gothic tale.

[Carmine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not live up to the publisher's hype as "two spellbinding novels in the grand tradition of Daphne du Maurier and Dorothy Eden." Not well-written even by Gothic romance standards. Long passages of exposition that robbed the plots of any possible suspense. But the cover art is awesome.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good mystery stories!