Jane Healey (2) (1986–)

You know how sometimes a book just has a hook that appeals to you immediately? That is what happened to me with The Animals at Lockwood Manor. I was straightaway fascinated by the idea of stuffed animals being evacuated from a museum during World War II to what is, in my head at least, something akin to a stately home.

For that is what happens when war breaks out and Hetty Cartwright must look after the animals from the museum where she works in London. She also is evacuated to Lockwood Manor show more with her beloved specimens. This is not a walk in the park for Hetty though. Major Lockwood is an irascible brute of a man, unkind, unpleasant and boorish. I must say that I inwardly cheered every time Hetty managed to stand up to him though. He and his daughter, Lucy, are the only 'above stairs' residents of the Manor since the death of his wife and mother. There is also a selection of servants and guards for the animals, and each character adds to the layers of the story.

This is a gothic read with many hidden depths. I really didn't expect a couple of the threads of the story at all. I loved the friendship that developed between Hetty and Lucy, two women of a similar age, both stymied by their families and their backgrounds, both looking for something more in their lives. I also found the descriptions of the animals absolutely enthralling. There are everyday creatures combined with the more exotic and it's quite clear Hetty is a little in love with them all!

There's a kind of supernatural aspect to some of the story and those dark corridors and recesses of the Manor provide ample opportunity for sinister happenings, including the mysterious disappearance of some of the animals. Is it ghostly goings on or is some of it down to human malevolence? I thought the author kept up the suspense really well.

This is an atmospheric read with the Manor being a character in its own right. It's not a fast-paced read, more one that takes the time to build up the mood. It's dark and unexpected, beautifully written, and I enjoyed it very much. show less

The premise of this story introduced me to a bit of history I hadn't known: that much of the contents of the British Museum was evacuated to safer locations in the countryside during the Blitz. The "animals" of the title refers to the museum's mammal collection, whose most valuable specimens were relocated to a country estate, Lockwood Manor, along with their director, Hetty Cartwright. The house is huge, maze-like, and rumored to be haunted, and strange things start happening almost show more immediately as one of the exhibits, a stuffed jaguar, disappears, and others are moved from their places during the night. Hetty feels out of her element trying to care for her charges, and her only friend is Major Lockwood's daughter, Lucy, who suffers from anxiety and terrible nightmares. This story has a deliciously gothic atmosphere--with echoes of Rebecca and Jane Eyre--as well as a sweet romance and a mystery at the center: Who or what is the menace roaming the halls of Lockwood Manor? Highly enjoyable. show less

‘’I have run from that summer, tried to forget its hazy pleasures and its tragedies, how it ended, how things fell apart. I have trusted the years to fade my memories and destroyed those photographs, never to be looked at again.’’

‘’There are no answers to be found from this house, from the fields, the woods and the river, even if my dreams are searching for them.’’

The arrival of a friend from her youth takes Ruth back to the last summer of innocence and the haunting memories show more of the Phelia Girls who idolised Pre-Raphaelite models and spent their days by the water, trying to turn their dreams into reality. Faced with the secrets of the past, Ruth has to cope with her own self. Maeve, her seventeen-year-old daughter, has to cross her own path to adulthood, recovering from a terrible stroke of Fate, discovering the first beatings of her heart and her desires for the future. But our children are always burdened by our own past sins…

‘’And the lightning strike cracked down and a roar of wind came straight towards us, every branch creaking and the leaves heaving like rough seas.’’

Jane Healey’s writing is incredibly beautiful! I’ll say that right away because my review cannot possibly do justice to the beauty of this novel and the less I say the better. The setting, the story, the atmosphere are exceptional. A sleepy hamlet during the last days of a seemingly idyllic summer haunts the characters years after and provides the eternal question: Can we escape the past? Blessed are those who have found the peace to drive every evil of the past away! And what of the hours of solitude we crave when everyone demands too much of us?

‘’And they see me quietly reading’, she said, ‘but they don’t know that in my head I’m dancing with satyrs or following Achilles on the battlefield as he cuts men left and right in violent rage for Patroclus, or that I’m the Sphinx in Thebes demanding Oedipus answer my riddles.’’

The story is rich in symbols. Ophelia and Persephone, the young women who were led astray or so they’d have us believe. Water and flowers, the symbols of life and rejuvenation. Death and Rebirth. Nature is hiding its own secrets well. Art and Literature make our souls flourish, they liberate us when others try to hold us down and lead us astray. Freedom and independence, the bond between children and parents. The expectations of others that are not ours to fulfil. Love and guilt and regret. All these eternal - allow me the adjective - themes are depicted through a tense atmosphere where summer laziness makes feelings go wild, taking over our lives, wed to a deep sensuality and a threatening setting. Storms are brewing underneath the surface. Shakespearean references are abundant and poignant, the scenes of the Ophelia Girls are true poetry, storm imagery and breathtaking nightly sequences create an impeccable canvas.

‘’There’s something terrifying about being awake alone in a dark house, something thrilling. No one watching you but the walls and the empty rooms and the pictures, the mirrors reflecting a shadowy second self.’’

Each character has a special path to follow. I adored Maeve, her passion, her determination, her courage. Stuart and Camille, controversial figures, remained a beautiful mystery to me, enticing and one to ponder on. Alex, on the other hand, was an ox and Ruth didn’t manage to find a way into my heart. Her views, her behaviour, and her hysterics were a bit out of hand for my personal taste.

This issue aside - a personal opinion, naturally - The Ophelia Girls is a breathtakingly (yes, I know I’ve used the word already…) novel, lyrical and haunting, difficult, demanding, whimsical. It is the summer of innocence and the autumn of our disillusionment.

‘’Soon. Soon I’ll be gone, I’ll be far away where no one knows me, where I can start again with no watchful eyes and no expectations.’’

Many thanks to Haughton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/ show less

''Lockwood had too many empty rooms. They sat there, hushed and gaping, waiting for my mind to fill them with horrors - spectres and shadows and strange creeping creatures. And sometimes what was already there was frightening enough: empty chairs; the hulk of a hollow wardrobe; a painting that slid off the wall on its own accord and shattered on the floor; the billowing of a curtain in a stray gust of wind; a light bulb that flickered like a message from the beyond. Empty rooms hold the show more possibility of people lurking inside them - truants, intruders, spirits.''

When we think of the ones that must be protected during a war, our mind always turns to human beings and understandably so. But what bout the treasures kept within the walls of our museums, the evidence of the human's evolution, the proof that we aren't only bringers of destruction but also able to create wonders? Hetty's duty is exactly that. She needs to find a shelter for the collection of mammals belonging to the Natural History Museum, as the Second World War is swiftly approaching Britain. She cannot know that Lockwood Manor hides sins of the past, terrible anger, injustice and corruption. Between a devil woman dressed in white, disappearances and a very real Satan, Hetty and Lucy need to find a way of those who try to dictate their lives.

Welcome to one of the finest novels of the decade...

''The house seemed to encourage wandering, hunting - the long corridor of its first floor, with the wall sconces leading you forward, the tall windows, the neat condition of each room that a dozen servants tended to; the hidden service stairs waiting to be found; the narrow warren of the servants' floor; and above all the vacuum of life, the absence of people in the rooms that had been so lovingly prepared for them.''

There is a long, long British tradition of haunting stories set in foreboding manors. Think of Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, The Turn of the Screw, Rebecca. Stories where the House walks side-by-side with the characters, ruling their fate. In Jane Healey's outstanding novel, this concept comes to life to perfection. Lockwood -the name evident of its mystery and darkness- isn't just a setting. It is the driving force behind all actions. Its closed doors and dark curtains, its silent corridors reflect the secrets and the oppression that permeate its walls. The spectres that may or may not haunt the Manor are a mirror of the choices and their repercussions once we allow others to take over our lives. I loved the way Healey links the games of our childhood to the haunting element. How most of them are based on a risky, often violent, premise. From hiding to chasing, to being blindfolded or unwittingly struck by a companion. What is this primal tendency? What does it reflect, I wonder?

But do not think this is just a story about a mysterious manor. No. In Hetty and Lucy, Jane Healey has created two excellent characters. Both at a crossroads, both struck by the lack of a mother in one way or another, both trying to overcome the norms of being ''proper ladies'', determined to swim against the current on so many levels. In the thoughts of the two young women and in their relationship, we can see the very notion of resilience, determination, and persistence, regardless of the cost. I would be frightfully negligent if I didn't mention the crucial and very mysterious role played by Lucy's mother, a character that deserves her own novel...

Extremely atmospheric, exquisitely written prose, excellent dialogue, brilliantly depicted themes, a wonderful continuation of the Gothic Manor sub-genre. A beautiful, beautiful novel!

''If there was a spirit in this house, it was me; if there was a haunting, it was my own.''

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/ show less