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Robert Highstead’s life took a detour when tragedy befell his new wife. He left his work as an Oxford-educated historian and turned instead to being a photographer of the dead. For three years, he has carried around his camera equipment every day from his small London room and painstakingly set up daguerreotype photos for grieving loved ones. When he gets a letter from his brother at their family home out in the country, he is surprised to learn he is being summoned to take a photo of a cousin he’s never met.
This cousin by marriage, Hugh de Bonne, was a poet of some renown, and his own tragic loss inspired his most famous book of poetry, The Lost History of Dreams. His beloved wife, Ada, died 16 years earlier, and de Bonne built an incredible stained-glass chapel, a folly, behind her family home on the moors of Shropshire to hold her body, as a testament to their love. But it’s been locked since its construction, and de Bonne’s final instructions were to have his body interred in the chapel with his sweetheart. Robert’s brother tells him he must get a photo of the body in the chapel, and then the late poet’s lawyer can officially grant ownership of the chapel, land and Ada’s home to her surviving niece, Isabelle.
Robert’s own grief haunts him, so he can’t deny the sympathy he feels for de Bonne’s last wish. But he finds that Isabelle, who is in possession of the key and is grieving still these many years later for her aunt, refuses to unlock the chapel. Eventually, the two strike a bargain: Isabelle will open the chapel if Robert will write Ada’s story as she will relate it to him over the course of five nights.
The prickly Isabelle parcels out the doomed lovers’ tale night by night, and readers learn of the full story along with Robert; they also learn more about his relationship with his wife, Sida, and what happened to her. Isabelle and Robert have much in common, but will both get what they desire from their agreement? Will opening the chapel be good for anyone?
The Lost History of Dreams is an atmospheric gothic story about love and grief, ghosts and haunting, and the way the past can keep a grip on the present, preventing it from going toward the future. This is just the type of story I love to sink into and savor, and it delivered. An impressive debut novel.
Rated: Moderate.There are two instances of strong language and only a few other uses of mild or moderate language. Sexuality is moderate, with a few scenes involving fairly brief but moderately detailed sexual content. Violence is limited.
*I received an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
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