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When Eliza Sullivan inherits an estate in England from a great-aunt she didn’t know well, she is happy to leave her old home in New Orleans behind. She’s lost her parents and gone through other situations that have left her feeling full of grief and guilt. Taking her sister, Lydia, with her, the two hope for a fresh new start.
Next door to her estate is an old mansion that has seen better days but has the potential for beauty. And its owner is the mysterious Lord Havenwood, Malcolm Winfield, who is handsome and charming but whom everyone warns her about. The subject of gossip, he generally stays apart from others. But when the two meet, it’s clear they have a strong attraction. Despite Eliza’s desire to be independent, she has to find a husband, and she agrees to marry Malcolm.
But as happy as she is with Malcolm and to be living in the beautiful manor she admired next door, Eliza soon finds there are strange things going on. She’s forbidden from going into the crumbling-down south wing. She hears knocking and whispers. And Malcolm is mercurial, sometimes the loving man she married and others seemingly a stranger.
Eliza begins to investigate what’s behind the strangeness, and she unearths secrets. What happened in the past to the house, and who was responsible? What really happened to the rest of Malcolm’s family? Digging up the truths will bring her into terrible danger.
Parting the Veil is a compelling mixture of all kinds of secrets and mysteries that come together in a reveal of the truth that I didn’t see coming. With it being historical fiction, I wasn’t sure how much of it felt true to the times (right before and around 1900), but it was interesting to read about some parts I’d wondered about in the author’s note at the end. It’s full of darkness, sadness, grief and bad characters, so it was a bit more than I bargained for. If you’re in the mood for a gothic romance book and are ready for a fair amount of darkness, it’s a good fit. (A similar but clean book is The Curse of Morton Abbey.)
Rated: High. Profanity includes 4 uses of strong language, fewer than 10 instances of moderate profanity, fewer than 10 uses of mild language, and almost 20 instances of the name of Deity in vain. There are also about a dozen instances of British profanity (bl-) and some old vulgar anatomical terms. Sexual content is either mildly or moderately detailed and fairly frequent. There are a few mentions of a woman being forced to have sex with someone else by her husband and another where a woman is told about a similar proposition. There are implied sexual abuse and mentions of possible incest. Violence includes several instances of murder by various methods and spousal and child abuse.
*I received an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
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