Set in the 18th century consumption has ravaged Louise Pinecroft's family, leaving her and her father alone and heartbroken. Dr Pinecroft has plans for a revolutionary experiment. With Louise’s help, he takes a group of local prisoners who are suffering from the illness and lodges them in a cave beneath the cliffs, where he claims the salty sea air will be good for their health. Sea bathing and fresh air were recommended treatments for various ailments during the Victorian era, and Purcell’s details on Pinecroft’s research was influenced by real life cases from the time.
Whilst Louise admires her father’s medical reputation and assists in his work, she gets no public recognition as it would not have been possible for her to become a doctor. As well as putting her own health at risk from the disease, she also suspends the notion of marriage, motherhood and femininity.
Forty years later, Hester Why arrives at Morvoren House to take up a position as nurse to the now partially paralysed and almost entirely mute Louise who spends her time in her cold room staring at her china collection. Hester has fled to Cornwall in an effort to escape her past, but surrounded by superstitious staff enacting bizarre rituals, she soon discovers that her new home may be just as dangerous as her last. The other members of the household are a bit strange and taunt Hester with their folk tales and rituals to keep the fairies away. But how much of this is real or the imaginings of Hester and her love of gin and opium?
There’s a definite nod to Du Maurier with the Cornish setting, the house on the cliffs and the gothic nature.
I wondered “What was the point of the china?”. Perhaps it’s an emblem of the realm - tea services were fragile beautiful items used predominantly by ladies of society in social gatherings. Maybe in her later years Louise clung to the china as the nearest she got to being a feminine lady of leisure.
Forty years later, Hester Why arrives at Morvoren House to take up a position as nurse to the now partially paralysed and almost entirely mute Louise who spends her time in her cold room staring at her china collection. Hester has fled to Cornwall in an effort to escape her past, but surrounded by superstitious staff enacting bizarre rituals, she soon discovers that her new home may be just as dangerous as her last. The other members of the household are a bit strange and taunt Hester with their folk tales and rituals to keep the fairies away. But how much of this is real or the imaginings of Hester and her love of gin and opium?
There’s a definite nod to Du Maurier with the Cornish setting, the house on the cliffs and the gothic nature.
I wondered “What was the point of the china?”. Perhaps it’s an emblem of the realm - tea services were fragile beautiful items used predominantly by ladies of society in social gatherings. Maybe in her later years Louise clung to the china as the nearest she got to being a feminine lady of leisure.
A very well crafted book with good characters.
∼ Happy Reading∼
Polly x
Sounds eerie and chilling. Hester loves gin and opium? Hey, don't we all. I bet I know where the bones came from to make the expensive bone china.
ReplyDeleteI used to drink gin, never tried opium. Yes it does contain animal bones.
DeleteI'm not sure it's my cuppa but does sound interesting.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean Jeanie, some of it was a bit grim.
Delete