Thanks to the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book gave me all of the Jane Eyre vibes. There's a governess with a troubled past, an eccentric man in a spooky house full of secrets, and a gloomy, gothic setting. But the book also diverges from Brontë's classic story in a few notable ways. James has mixed in magic and you are never sure until the end if we are meant to believe in this magic or if it is all in the imagination of the characters. There is also a modern story with a love triangle and a woman trying to sort out her inheritance of both the house and her family's past.

I found this modern-day story line to be the weaker of the two storylines, but the book only works with the two intact. One informs the other, helps us to understand parts of the story that are mysteries to each character. And in this way I appreciated them both. I loved how James kept certain things hidden to the reader as well, so that we could discover them along with the characters. Plus, that ending caught me off guard.

I have a low tolerance for spooky and ghosts, and I'm not ashamed to admit that this book gave me the creeps to the point where I wouldn't read it at night. But it was a fast read because I needed to know what happened to each character. The setting was impeccable and I could imagine myself at Winterbourne.

TW: ghosts/spooky settings; war; miscarriage