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A review by ladytiara
The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson
3.0
As the book jacket attests, The Lantern bears a debt to Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca. Just as in that classic novel, this is the story of a young woman, her relationship with an older man, and the specter of his first wife looming over them.
Eve is a bit adrift in life when she meets older man Dom. They quickly fall in love and move to Provence, where they buy a beautiful but crumbling farmhouse called Les Genevriers. Dom was married previously to a woman named Rachel, but he refuses to speak of their relationship or what happened to her. Eve is content to let things lie at first, but after she meets a woman who knew Rachel, she begins to wonder about her. Her unease is heightened by odd things that happen around the house and a series of disappearances of young women in the area.
Eve's story is intertwined with that of Benedicte, a woman who spent most of her life at Les Genevriers. When we first meet her, she appears to be haunted by the ghosts of family members who've returned to the farmhouse to torment her. We learn her story in a series of flashbacks. The mysteries of her past slowly unfold and there are connections to the present day.
The most effective part of this book for me was the wonderful descriptions of the house and the surrounding countryside. According to her bio, the author lives in an old house in Provence, and her experience with the area really shows in her very detailed rendering of the land and the people. Les Genevriers, even at its creepiest, sounds like a very beautiful and beguiling place to live. It's as much a character in the tale as Eve or Benedicte.
Where the story floundered a bit was on the romance side. Eve's relationship with Dom never really came alive for me. She meets him and they move to a new country in the space of a few pages. Dom is a shadowy character, which makes sense being that he's somewhat shadowy to Eve, but I never really understood why she fell in love with him, so the relationship felt flat to me.
The sense of mystery and unease was much more successfully portrayed, and I felt Eve's dread and growing fear. The tale is just a bit creepy without ever being too scary. It's a light read that would perfect to bring on vacation (and it will make you want to schedule a trip to Provence).
(I received a copy of this book from Amazon Vine.)
Eve is a bit adrift in life when she meets older man Dom. They quickly fall in love and move to Provence, where they buy a beautiful but crumbling farmhouse called Les Genevriers. Dom was married previously to a woman named Rachel, but he refuses to speak of their relationship or what happened to her. Eve is content to let things lie at first, but after she meets a woman who knew Rachel, she begins to wonder about her. Her unease is heightened by odd things that happen around the house and a series of disappearances of young women in the area.
Eve's story is intertwined with that of Benedicte, a woman who spent most of her life at Les Genevriers. When we first meet her, she appears to be haunted by the ghosts of family members who've returned to the farmhouse to torment her. We learn her story in a series of flashbacks. The mysteries of her past slowly unfold and there are connections to the present day.
The most effective part of this book for me was the wonderful descriptions of the house and the surrounding countryside. According to her bio, the author lives in an old house in Provence, and her experience with the area really shows in her very detailed rendering of the land and the people. Les Genevriers, even at its creepiest, sounds like a very beautiful and beguiling place to live. It's as much a character in the tale as Eve or Benedicte.
Where the story floundered a bit was on the romance side. Eve's relationship with Dom never really came alive for me. She meets him and they move to a new country in the space of a few pages. Dom is a shadowy character, which makes sense being that he's somewhat shadowy to Eve, but I never really understood why she fell in love with him, so the relationship felt flat to me.
The sense of mystery and unease was much more successfully portrayed, and I felt Eve's dread and growing fear. The tale is just a bit creepy without ever being too scary. It's a light read that would perfect to bring on vacation (and it will make you want to schedule a trip to Provence).
(I received a copy of this book from Amazon Vine.)