Menfreya in the Morning

This feels like Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca with a little bit of Jane Eyre and a little bit of Dickens thrown in. I really enjoyed the writing. It had lots of interesting characters and fantastic dialogue, as well as atmosphere. However, I can’t rate it higher than 2 stars because of the way rape was utilized in the plot. Bevil, the male main character, rapes his wife Harriet, and while the story makes you think he is the villain, in the end he isn’t. The book never truly reckons with the fact that he raped her. I kept reading because I thought he would be the villain and Harriet would realize this at the end, but instead he is the hero at the end, and that is clearly the way the author intends us to feel about Bevil as well. Not show more okay at all. show less

A weaker one in the Holt collection. The fun part of these novels is figuring out what other classic novels or sometimes films she is lifting the plot from but this one wasn't really any of those. The plot meandered along and when it finally got to a grand climax, not much that went before really mattered that much. I'm afraid Harriet was a sullen woman at the best of times, even given her truly horrible father. A bit of a mailed in effort.

Harriett Delvaney is somewhat of a misfit in the eyes of her family. Raised by her father, who is resentful towards Harriett because of her mother’s death in childbirth, he makes no qualms of displaying his intolerance of her. Faced with fear, loneliness, and disapproval, she runs away from her London home to an abandoned property owned by the Menfreys, a wealthy Cornish family with a dark past. Opportunely, Harriett is united with the residents of the Menfreya estate and eventually goes to live at her father’s rented home near the property giving her more time with the heir to Menfreya. Although she is no beauty and awkward, she marries the handsome Bevil and is introduced to the family’s secrets which include murder, infidelity, show more and other trickery. Are her insecurities valid or just her paranoia? As she sleuths her way through life at Menfreya, her character takes shape and the reader discovers it’s hard to put this book down.

The mysterious mansion located by the Cornish sea is entrancing, hence the opening line “To see Menfreya at its best was to see it in the morning”. If you are as enchanted with gothic romance as I am, add this title to your “must read” list. While Holt can be predictable, she never fails to entertain. I read this book in one afternoon and will definately pick it up for a reread sometime in the future. Menfreya in the Morning is one of two books ever that I remember the opening line. Coincidently, I read that this story was inspired by the other title I love so dearly… Rebecca. If you are a Du Maurier fan then you won’t be disappointed by Victoria Holt’s works. show less

I like the eerie tone featured throughout this book, set in the latter half of the nineteenth century, but the pace runs too slow for my tastes. Although the plot itself is fine enough it lacks sparkle.

Characters are well-drawn, but like with the storyline, they don’t have enough shine.

Overall, this isn’t the best novel I’ve read by Victoria Holt, but it was still worth checking out.

I may have grown up some since I last read Victoria Holt. I still liked it though especially the ending and the fact that the heroine is not beautiful.

A rich politician's daughter is entranced by a grand Cornish home and the family that owns it. Her relationship with them brings her joy and danger as the book comes to a somewhat surprising conclusion.

I loved this when I read it (in my early 20's); wonder if I still would now.