Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT TWELFTH NIGHT AT EYRE HALL by @LucciaGray #HistFic

Today’s team review is from Suraya, find her here http://www.thestorymint.com

Suraya has been reading and reviewing Twelfth Night At Eyre Hall by Luccia Gray

Review of Twelfth Night at Eyre Hall: Book Two

By Luccia Gray

 

It is a very brave soul who takes on a writer of Charlotte Bronte’s standing and writes sequels to her much studied and analysed Jane Eyre.

However, Luccia Gray has undertaken the challenge and largely achieved a story that is entertaining and has the mannerisms of the time well captured.

I smiled when Dr. Carter asked Annette if she knew who Florence Nightingale was. As a reader, my silent voice screamed out, “Yes.” But the writer explains that the group in the room nodded with “vacant looks” and the “rather boring doctor” explained who she was. This moment captures the general feel of the book.

There was a lot of dialogue that could be narrative or even edited out.

In Part Two the Lieutenant describes his early childhood and this was excellent. I felt drawn in by the account and the narrative voice, which made it easy to visualise the period in which this story is set. The narrator muses about the changes trains will bring to transport as they replace horses and that set the story well in the period.

There were many occasions when the descriptive passages were vivid and very realistic such as the time the narrator described the house and the verbal exchanges between Lieutenant Kirkpatrick and Polly.

From here the story takes off and The Twelfth Night at Eyre Hall gathers pace and mystery. Before we know it we are in the middle of a terrible tale of lost babies and torture of baby traders.

There is an unforgettable chapter called Mr. Dickens Visits Eyre Hall where he meets Jane Elliot. Dickens observes that although he had enjoyed her novels they were too full of “unlikely coincidences and unrealistic happy endings.” I found myself wondering if this was the writer telling me what to expect of her writing.

In fact this was proven to be the case because there are loose ends, like Michael’s return, that have been left for the author to reveal in her third and final book of the Eyre Hall trilogy.

This is a pleasant holiday read.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com