Black Rabbit Hall

from Deborah --

Black Rabbit Hall by Eve Chase is one great Gothic novel. As a teenager, I thoroughly enjoyed Victoria Holt’s tangled castle romances infused with mysterious, murderous threats and tragic heroines. By the time I was in college, I figured that was all that a Gothic read could supply and I was over it. I was wrong on both counts.
Black Rabbit Hall, in audio form, is read by Nathalie Buscombe and Katie Scarfe. It has the slowly building pressure of the best of old radio dramas combined with enough beautiful, descriptive passages that drove me to get the paper-copy book so I could re-read them slowly. Like the best of the genre, there is a sharp sense of menace that confuses you as you are led through the narrative looking show more for answers. Is someone’s perception distorted by madness? Is there only a very human evil at work, or does the supernatural play a part?
What makes this book a fresh offering in the genre is the believable location set in times the reader can relate to personally. There is not a castle in sight, just a down-at-heels country estate that is not faring well in modern England. The story shifts between a familiar 1960’s setting and a typical modern day scenario. It feels much less like an over-the-top campfire story and more like a damaged family drama you can glimpse parts of from what winds up in the local news. You only inhabit the heads of two of the main characters, but it is enough to show how faceted family tragedies are even when the participants are living life closely together. Everyone sees it differently; everyone hurts differently. Even the romances don’t sweep you away but, instead, ground you in some pretty basic truths about ambition, hypocrisy, and the work it takes to heal.
Eve Chase provides a rather wild ride along the course of a labyrinth, and she takes you to a satisfying, believable ending. That’s a good story in any genre. show less

Black Rabbit Hall by Eve Chase is a 2015 publication.
Many people will place a book in the Gothic category, using the term too loosely, in my opinion, but It’s very, very rare to find a story that delivers an authentic Gothic mystery. However, ‘Black Rabbit Hall’ delivers exactly that, and with relish on top!!

I’m thrilled and amazed by this book, which tells the story of four children living an ideal life in 1968, until tragedy strikes. From there, their lives quickly dissolve into madness, turmoil, and melancholy, with more tragedy to follow.

Fast forward to present day, where we meet Lorna and Jon, a couple madly in love, looking for a wedding venue. Oddly enough, an old Cornwall house on the list of possibilities, peaks show more Lorna’s interest, not only because she loves old houses, but because she has some fragmented memories of having visited there with her mother, who recently passed away. Once she sees the house, her heart is set on it despite Jon’s skepticism.

Before long, Lorna becomes involved with the matriarch of the house and the housekeeper, vowing to help bring in more clients by writing up an article regarding the history of the house, and its family legacy. Little did she know her vague memories of the house connect her in a direct way to its past and could possibly shape her future.

The lovely and isolated setting of Cornwall is a fitting backdrop to tell the history of the Alton children.

The mystery of what became of the family is told in alternate chapters, while Mrs. Alton shares her memories with Lorna in the present.
As the story unfolds, Lorna slowly begins to piece together her own memories of Black Rabbit Hall, revealing a shocking revelation that left me stunned.

This absorbing tale and family saga is full of dark secrets, betrayals, and manipulations, but as the two storylines begin to merge, the ghosts of the past will finally rest in peace, paving the way for healing and new beginning for all.

This is such a beautifully written novel, rich in details and vivid characterizations, cloaked with a haunting atmosphere that lingers long after the final page.

The ending is everything I hoped it would be and more. This is definitely my kind of book!!

5 stars show less

Lorna wants to get married at Pencraw Hall, an old, sprawling country house in Cornwall. Despite her fiance Jon's misgivings about the house, Lorna feels drawn to the old estate, despite its peeling wallpaper and general lack of repair. She becomes almost obsessed with discovering the history of Pencraw Hall, called Black Rabbit Hall, by the locals. While walking through the woods near the estate, Lorna discovers a tree carved with the names of children who used to live at the Hall. Why does she feel drawn to this house, its past and the lives of these four children? Who are Amber, Toby, Kitty and Barney, and what happened to them at Black Rabbit Hall?

This book has a haunting, gothic feel. While the plot was predictable, the book is show more extremely well-written. Ms. Chase intertwines the lives of her characters across decades in haunting, dramatic story-telling with the backdrop being an old, dilapidated country manor. Choices come full circle. Secrets are revealed. The consequences of one event blossom out into ripples through time, effecting an entire family over generations. Black Rabbit Hall is a beautiful story that draws a reader into sharing the joy, tragedy and loss experienced by a family.

This book drew me in and kept me reading to the very last sentence. I figured out the secret before it was revealed, but that didn't matter. I felt the emotions of the characters and wanted to know what happened to them. Just an enjoyable read, with a slightly dark feel.

Black Rabbit Hall is Eve Chase's first book. I look forward to her next published novel!

My rating: 8/10
Ages: 16
Some sexual situations, not graphic show less

4.5 stars.

From the deliciously mysterious prologue until the last page is turned, Black Rabbit Hall by Eve Chase is a riveting novel that is impossible to put down. The dark and sorrowful events from 1969 continue to reverberate three decades later when bride-to-be Lorna Dunaway's search for a wedding venue takes her to a dilapidated country estate in Cornwall.

In 1968, the Alton family is deliriously happy when they depart from London to their country estate which they affectionately refer to as Black Rabbit Hall. Hugo and Alton are deeply in love and this happiness is reflected in their four children: teenage twins Amber and Toby and the much younger Barney and Kitty. Vacations at Black Rabbit Hall are idyllic and rather magical as the show more kids run wild exploring the estate and lazing around the beach. But their happy days come to an abrupt end when their mother dies in a tragic accident and their father Hugo's ex-girlfriend Caroline Shawcross and her teenage son Lucian enter their lives a short time later.

Lorna is immediately entranced with the ramshackle estate and over her fiancé Jon's strenuous objections, she accepts the homeowner's invitation to spend the weekend in the mansion. She feels a strong kinship to the property and after discovering a puzzling carving on a tree that dates back to 1969, her curiosity is piqued. Hoping to uncover the truth about the long ago tragedy, Lorna gently quizzes the owner and her employee, but she is frustrated by their reluctance to talk about the past. Instead, she finds tantalizing clues in photo albums but she soon hits a dead end. After discovering information that is inexplicably linked to her own past, Lorna is ready to return to London when the elderly homeowner finally agrees to reveal the secrets from that unsettled time in 1969.

The heartbreaking events from 1968-1969 are told in a series of flashbacks from teenager Amber's point of view. Happy and well-adjusted before her mother's death, Amber is forced to act as a surrogate parent for Kitty and Barney. Kitty manages to emerge from the tragedy relatively unscathed but young Barney remains traumatized by the incident. Twin brother Toby is sent back to boarding school only to be expelled when his anger spills over into violence. The increasingly tense situation takes a dark turn when Hugo insists the family return to Black Rabbit Hall for Christmas later that year where he introduces the children to Caroline and Lucian. Amber is somewhat entranced by Lucian but Toby deeply resents his and his mother's intrusion on their holiday. This animosity intensifies after Hugo and Caroline marry soon after the one year anniversary of their mother's death and Amber is torn between her loyalty to Toby and her growing (and forbidden) attraction to Lucian.

With startling plot twists and jaw dropping revelations, Black Rabbit Hall by Eve Chase is a captivating novel that is quite suspenseful. While not a traditional mystery, this intriguing story is quite atmospheric and vaguely reminiscent of old-fashioned Gothic stories. A fast-paced and compelling read that I absolutely loved and highly recommend! show less

I only chose this book because the Kindle version was on offer so I can't really complain, but I feel like I have read this same story many, many times now - usually on the recommendation of Richard and Judy too! Two perspectives, one told in first person and set in the past - 1969, in this instance - and the other a framing narrative in the 'present day'. Rambling country house, bonus points for a coastal location to cash in on Du Maurier, inhabited by a dysfunctional middle class family with echoes of Rosamund Pilcher. Modern counterpart reads like chick lit. Dark family secrets binding both generations together. Many implausible coincidences ensue. Happy ending. Sound familiar?

In the late 60s, the Alton family divide the year between show more London and their Cornish pile, Pencraw or Black Rabbit Hall. When the stunningly beautiful and bohemian Mrs Alton - who is American, natch, and has 'hair a blaze of red and her eyes green as lettuce' (what is the fascination with styling women after Jolene?) - tragically dies after falling from her horse, the family glue starts to come unstuck. And this isn't a spoiler because her death comes in the first few chapters and she is merely a device anyway. Not only do the children - twins Toby and Amber, and little ones Barney and Kitty - begin to change, but the story I was expecting started to fall apart too. Less 'something nasty in the woods' and more 'wicked stepmother' territory. Hugo Alton's ex girlfriend, a glacial blonde upstart jilted in favour of the glamorous American, reappears on the scene at the funeral and soon moves into the Hall with her dark and brooding son in tow. Amber is drawn towards Lucian, sending her brother even further over the edge, and the inevitable happens. Thirty years later, teacher Lorna is hunting for a wedding venue with her fiancé Jon and feels drawn towards the Hall. At this point, I started asking myself what 2+2 might add up to, and I wasn't wrong, sadly.

Don't get me wrong, for a light, fast read, this book ticks all the boxes. I wanted to know - confirm - why Lorna and her mother used to visit the Hall, but also discover what happened to little Barney, which is foreshadowed in the first chapter, and so I kept reading. But at the same time, I found the clichés annoying, especially the perfect mother called 'Momma' by her children, and the the hard-hearted bitch of a stepmother. There are some lyrical moments, like the children's description of grief - 'This is how we miss her now, less with a sadness that we swim about in and more with sharp spikes of feelings that pop up unexpectedly, like foxgloves in the woods' - and occasional flashes of humour ('Am I allowed to point out now that Black Rabbit Hall is completely loony? Sort of like being trapped in a Kate Bush song') but mostly this was just a game of contemporary fiction bingo. And the final chapters, when everything is neatly tied up with a bow, were merely the swirl of sickly fondant icing on a flat cupcake. show less

Beginning in 1969, Amber Alton is 14 years old and staying with her family at their summer house Pencraw Hall in Cornwall. Affectionately known as Black Rabbit Hall, Amber lives with her parents, twin brother Toby, and siblings Kitty and Barney and loves spending summers running wild in the gardens, woods and beach nearby.

I love a novel where the estate or family home is essentially its own character and in Black Rabbit Hall by Eve Chase, that has certainly been created here. Although the image of the property on this enticing gothic looking cover is a little too manicured and not how I imagined Black Rabbit Hall at all.

Here's a better description by Amber:

"Nothing changes that much. Time goes syrupy slow. The family joke is that a show more Black Rabbit hour lasts twice as long as a London one, but you don't get a quarter of the things done. The other thing about Black Rabbit Hall is that when you're here it feels like you've been here for centuries but when you leave it feels like the entire holiday happened in one afternoon. Maybe that's why nobody cares that the clocks are all set wrong. Not much ever happens." Page 25

This is a split narrative novel and in the present, Lorna is looking for a venue to hold her wedding. Both points of view are told in the first person, but I found myself eager to return to the 1960s and the action taking place there as observed by Amber.

"I think that adults must get sort of worn away over time, like rocks out at sea, but remain who they are, just slower and greyer with those funny vertical wrinkles in front of their ears. But the young are a different shape from one week to the next. To know us is to run alongside us, like someone trying to shout through the window of a moving train." Page 306

Eventually the two timelines come together in a sense and I enjoyed the tension driven by the tragedy and discovering the deeply held family secrets along the way.

This is my first novel by Eve Chase, but certainly won't be my last and I'm looking forward to reading The Birdcage next. Black Rabbit Hall is highly recommended for fans of historical fiction and with an endorsement from Kate Morton, who could resist? show less

What secrets does Black Rabbit Hall hold, and will Lorna find out what the secrets of the Alton family are as she explores the Alton's summer home?

Lorna is looking for a place for her wedding and is pulled toward Black Rabbit Hall. She has a feeling that it is somehow connected to her past.

Tragedies were plentiful at Black Rabbit Hall when the Altons lived there. Lauren's fiancé isn't comfortable about having their wedding there, but Lorna insists that there is some connection to her and her family, and she wants to find out and have her wedding there.

We learn about the Alton's family life at Black Rabbit Hall through flashbacks and then move forward to present day.

Toby, Amber, Kitty, and Barney told the story of Black Rabbit Hall....a show more story with great family dynamics.

Ms. Chase's descriptions are marvelous. You can put yourself into every scene of the story and clearly picture what is happening and carried out. I loved going back in time and seeing what was left behind in the kitchen and other areas of BLACK RABBIT HALL.

The old house definitely is a trove of memories and untold secrets and stories. You can smell the dust, see the family’s comings and goings, hear the water dripping from the leaky roof, and visualize the people who lived there.

BLACK RABBIT HALL was a family saga with hints of foreboding as you turned each page.

BLACK RABBIT HALL had marvelous characters that were loving and endearing and of course there was a villain who ruined it all.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book...an excellent debut. The only disappointment, which really isn't a disappointment, was when Ms. Chase left you hanging and waiting with something "juicy" at the end of a chapter and took you back to the past or from the past to the future. :)

ENJOY when you read....the ending was emotional, and the entire book is addicting!!

Loved the book. 5/5

This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher in return for an honest review. show less