4.5 stars

I have never read a book like this before. I mean that in a lot of ways - I haven't read horror books, but I'm also not sure if I've read this kind of historical fiction before, with so many layers and timelines, or if I've read a book that so thoroughly queers said historical fiction throughout. I listened to the audiobook, and therefore was not flipping back and forth to double check facts or to compare timelines with each other, wasn't really trying to sleuth out the book. I loved the feeling of not really knowing what was happening, how real any of the haunting was, who was behind the original haunting, how all the timelines played into each other. I didn't realize that Mary MacLane was real, that's fascinating.

I'm a little disappointed that even after finishing the book, I still kind of don't. This isn't the kind of book with a clean resolution, a resound "aha!!! mystery solved!" moment (although there was a bit of it with Addie). Instead, it leaves you and the characters in a hopeful place, but with the lurking threat remaining, still uncertain of how long it will last, or how safe they will stay. In the end, it's also unclear who the narrator is. I'm leaning towards it being Merritt, in a later book.