A debut Gothic horror set in 1870s Brazil—a tale of creeping suspense in which a young pregnant woman finds herself unable to escape her lover’s isolated family home, and a family’s deal with the devil goes terribly wrong.
1877, Pernambuco, Brazil: Raised in a deeply religious household, Madalena knows Dante’s Inferno by heart and fears her mother’s reaction as much as she fears God. When she falls pregnant with a child conceived in sin, her mother issues a threat: marry or surrender the baby. Madalena is confident that the father, the dashing Leandro Neves, will do right by her and propose. But just as she is about to tell him about the baby, a violent storm sends their carriage careening off the road.
Madalena awakens in Leandro’s sprawling, secluded home, under the care of the mysterious and larger-than-life Doctor Lobo. Leandro is there . . . but he is no longer the charming poet she knew. He’s silent. Obsessed. Always watching.
Strange perfume haunts a locked room. Pages vanish from books. Jewels lie untouched in a forgotten wardrobe. And mirrors begin disappearing after Madalena sees something—or someone—ghastly in the reflection.
Leandro is unraveling. Doctor Lobo may be hiding something even darker. Trapped in a decaying house of secrets, Madalena must uncover the truth before the men around her destroy her, and before the hell she fears becomes the one she’s living in.
Madalena is young, pregnant, and madly in love with the man of her dreams. Unfortunately, the year is 1877, when being an unwed mother from a strict family is a worse fate than death. She was sure that the baby's father would ask her to marry him as soon as she told him about it, but alas, a tragic accident means she will never find out what he would have said.
When she awakens in his home after the accident, he is changed towards her. He is acting strangely and downright cold. Is it just shock from the accident or something more sinister? He doesn't seem to want her there, and yet he and the doctor who has been called will not let her leave.
I read this book because it was described as gothic horror, but I think I may have preferred it without the horror; I would have enjoyed it more as just a historical fiction. I was already so intrigued by the story, long before the horror aspect, that when it did come into play, I felt like it was just unnecessary and maybe even in the way. I was stunned by the clever and shocking reveal when we find out why the baby's father has changed towards her, but once that secret was let loose, I felt it should wrap up a little quicker. It stretched on too long for my tastes.
My thanks to Dutton for the e-ARC.
No comments:
Post a Comment