Overall it was an eerie convincing performance from Sophie Aldred, She did a great job at narrating this story creating an effective tense and spooky atmosphere particularly during the seance scenes, that said I also have a contradictory opinion! I did not like listening to the hymn singing during the ghostly seance performance. It was just weird, I get it, how else can this be portrayed in audiobook format? I could not deny that this is what contributed to the tense and spooky atmosphere of the overall performance bringing the text to life.

The pacing was also a little up and down for me. The story started well. I was hooked. The protagonist Miss Darken I found annoying at times. Melodramatic is how I would describe her, she couldn't help it and thankfully I did get over those annoyances pretty quickly. The unrequited love and affections of her close family friend Simon and his affections for her I found charming and endearing. I was looking forward to how this relationship unfolded in the story. Her cause for concern for the spirit medium child Pearl is also endearing I wanted to see how this relationship developed too. The plot lost me a little in the middle but certainly picked back up pace at the end. The murder mystery aspect of the book with its twists and turns had me on edge anticipating where the story finished right to the very last seconds of the audiobook. I felt it was a satisfying conclusion in the end. which is great and altogether I would say it was a satisfying audiobook listen. A 3.5 star rating for me.

Fans of Historical Fiction, Gothic fiction, Suspense, and Ghost stories will enjoy this audiobook greatly. It’s creepy, atmospheric and mysterious.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this audiobook in return for an honest review.