I love being given the opportunity to update our school library which is a unique space for both senior students and staff to access high quality literature. This is definitely a must-buy. It kept me absolutely gripped from cover to cover and is exactly the kind of read that just flies off the shelves. It has exactly the right combination of credible characters and a compelling plot thatI just could not put down. This is a great read that I couldn't stop thinking about and it made for a hugely satisfying read. I'm definitely going to order a copy and think it will immediately become a popular addition to our fiction shelves. 10/10 would absolutely recommend.

My favourite genre- gothic historical
This book is so suspenseful and atmospheric. I was hooked from the first page
The creepy setting kept me turning the pages.
An excellent debut

I really enjoyed The Deception of Harriet Fleet, gothic and dark with lots of mystery it really hooked me and kept me coming back for more. There were so many twists and turns especially towards the end and I felt like there were maybe a few too many plot lines happening at once, but I really enjoyed the fats pace and all the revelations. Definitely one to read if you enjoy a gothic mystery

A thoroughly enjoyable read. Highly atmospheric and a cast of very believable characters. Highly recommend.

I love Gothic mysteries and Helen Scarlett's debut The Deception of Harriet Fleet ticked all of the boxes for me. It's 1871 and Harriet travels from Norfolk to the Wainwright's home of Teesbank Hall in County Durham to take up the post of governess to 18 year old Eleanor Wainwright. We learn from the beginning that Teesbank Hall is a gloomy and forbidding house, shunned by the locals because of it's history. Harriet is escaping from a traumatic life in Norfolk and what has happened to her after the death of her father is slowly revealed to the reader. Eleanor is a complex character, unlikeable at first until we discover how she has been treated by her family and virtually imprisoned at the Hall.
I loved the atmospheric setting and the author brilliantly portrays a sense of time and place. The relationship between Harriet and Eleanor is compelling. Both women have complex histories and the author explores what it was like to be a woman - of whatever class- in the Victorian period. The writing is immersive and I was completely consumed by this novel over a 24 hour period.
4.5 stars. Highly recommended.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

This took me a good few days to get through, it was enjoyable enough but I wouldn't re-read it. I can see the parallels to Jane Eyre but it stands on it's own

3.5 stars. As the nights draw in and autumn turns to winter, my reading life tends to head for the cosy comfort blanket that is historical fiction. I love curling up with something historical and gothic during the winter months, especially if it has a crime, mystery and/or supernatural element. With its isolated setting and Jane Eyre vibes, Helen Scarlett’s The Deception of Harriet Fleet, thus had ‘winter reading vibes’ written all over it.

Billed as an ‘atmospheric Victorian chiller’, The Deception of Harriet Fleet follows the eponymous Harriet as she takes up the post of governess at the brooding and isolated Teesbank Hall, home of the prominent Wainright family. Entrusted with the charge of Eleanor, the daughter of the house and of a similar age to Harriet, it is soon apparent to the new governess that all is not well with her charge. Prone to outbursts of sudden violence and watched night and day, Eleanor is feared by the staff and despised by almost all her relations. But is there some method behind the young woman’s apparent madness? As Harriet learns more about her charge – and about the tragic history of the Wainwright family – she begins to think that not only might Eleanor have unearthed a dangerous family secret, but to fear that the ghosts from her own past will be revealed.

With a dark and brooding house, an isolated and chilly family, and a protagonist with secrets of her own to hide, The Deception of Harriet Fleet certainly ticks all of the ‘Victorian Gothic’ boxes! Helen Scarlett does an excellent job of conveying the sinister atmosphere of Teesbank Hall and the intimidating authority that the various members of the Wainwright family hold over Harriet and her future. Teasing the reader with the promise of secrets both within Teesbank Hall and within Harriet’s own past, Scarlett also does an excellent job of introducing and maintaining an uneasy tension right up until the novel’s dramatic final act.

Key to this tension is the combative relationship between Harriet and her charge. By turns manipulative, cruel, deceitful, frustrated, maligned, neglected, and brilliant, Eleanor is a complicated figure, whose intellectual curiosity and fierce ambition are being repressed by old-fashioned notions of female duty and societal position. Harriet, meanwhile, tells us from the outset that she has committed a great deceit herself: running away from home and assuming a new identity to escape unspeakable horrors. As the two women realise that they are both victims of society’s lack of respect for women, an uneasy accord grows between them that is both fascinating and nerve-wracking to witness.

This unlikely alliance – and the tension that arises as a result – was the driving force of the novel for me, with Eleanor and Harriet both unwittingly (and often unwillingly) assisting each other in uncovering the secrets of Teesbank Hall. I also enjoyed the way in which their discoveries tied into the ‘age of discovery and progress’, with forays into the dark fringes of the scientific world. It should be noted, however, that some of Eleanor and Harriet’s investigations lead to traumatic discoveries so trigger warnings for mentions of or discussion of child death, mental illness, confinement, forced institutionalisation, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, infidelity, and pregnancy.

There are some glimmers of hope for Harriet amidst all the gloom. A burgeoning friendship with Eleanor’s brother Henry provides some moments of levity, although I have to say that personally I found the relationship that eventually develops between them to be somewhat lacking in meat on the bones and, as a result, one of the weaker elements of the novel. Another friendship with a fellow servant was more successful, and featured a twist that had me reeling at the novel’s end!

With its absorbing story of family secrets, revenge, jealousy, betrayal, and forbidden love, The Deception of Harriet Fleet definitely meets the criteria for a haunting gothic read. Fans of historical mysteries are sure to enjoy discovering the many macabre secrets of Teesbank Hall, as will anyone who is looking to fill a Bronte-shaped hole in their reading lives!

Teesbank Hall is an isolated place that hides a dark history and terrible secrets. Secrets that the Wainwright family have forbidden all who work and live there to speak of. But they can’t disguise the malevolent and unsettling atmosphere that permeates its walls or the ghosts that wander them.

Harriet arrives at the house to begin her new job as governess, the remote location the perfect place for her to avoid being found by the secrets and people she’s running from. But her new charge, the Wainwright’s daughter Eleanor, is not what she imagined. The young girl is feared by all those in Teesbank Hall and openly hostile of her new governess, something Harriet understands a little more when she learns she is actually there to report on Eleanor’s bizarre behaviour. Yet over time the two develop an unusual relationship that centres on their mutual fascination with the family’s sinister history and work together to try to unveil the truth of a brutal murder decades earlier.

Deliciously dark, haunting and mysterious, The Deception of Harriet Fleet is a gorgeously gothic read. The story is part historical fiction, part mystery, and part ghost story, but there also are much deeper themes explored in its pages. Helen Scarlett explores the harsh treatment of women in the Victorian era, particularly those who are feisty, strong and intelligent. Women had no autonomy, were owned by men and sexual assault was prevelent. We see this in how Eleanor, who refuses to be silenced by her family, is imprisoned by them, has her every move watched and lives with their threats of the asylum looming over her. It is even shown in those who seem to have what others strive for, such as her mother, Susan, who is trapped in a miserable marriage with a philanderer.

The story is told to the reader by Harriet, who is finally telling the truth about what happened at Teesbank Hall all those years ago. Chillingly written, and evocative, there is a strong sense of place that makes the house feel like a character in its own right. Harriet often feels there is someone watching when she’s alone and finds herself checking for ghosts in the shadows. Many who live there feel imprisoned, the claustrophobic air permeating every page.

Atmospheric, eerie and forbidding, this was the perfect book to read during the dark and cold autumn nights.

Thank you to the publisher for my eARC copy of this book. Unfortunately I didn’t love this book and therefore didn’t finish, I just didn’t connect with this one. Not for me, sorry.

i really enjoyed this book, i love novels with complex characters and this one hits the spot nicely!

I really enjoyed this gothic romance. It was the perfect mix of pure crime darkness and good historical fiction. I liked how there were two narratives going on at once and this really helped add to the mystery. I liked how the mystery of the murdered boy was mixed in with the mystery of Harriet's past. This was helped by the writing is really atmospheric and the mood was intense and oppressive in places. It made me feel on the edge of my seat in several places. I really liked how this wrapped up too as it was done clearly and nothing was left unanswered.

It was a great novel. Loved reading it and the writer is great. Would most likely read again and recommend to others.

All the ingredients for a classic gothic novel are present – twenty-one year old Harriet Cauldwell arrives at a large, isolated English north country property Teesbank House in 1871 to take up a post as governess. Her charge is Eleanor Wainwright, a highly challenging and intelligent young female, with a wealthy and also deeply unpleasant family. Teesbank House has a local reputation for evil, and there are references to matters disturbing that happened some time ago as well as indications of a contemporary haunting. Harriet has her own secrets and past she is escaping from (hence taking the family name of a former governess) – these are gradually revealed throughout the narrative as she tells her account in the first person. Eleanor refuses to be taught by Harriet, and her hostility continues, while they come to a form of unspoken collusion that Eleanor will be allowed to pursue her own studies unhindered. She does tell Harriet details of the grisly murder of her brother Samuel Wainwright, a two-year-old in 1849 before Eleanor was born and Arielle Marchal French governess’s conviction for the murder and her execution; Harriet becomes intrigued by the crime and tries to find out as much as she can of the killing, especially as there are parallels between her and Arielle.
The tale bundles along in excellent fashion, with a good dabbling of gothic horror and sensation to keep matters bubbling along nicely. Like all such tales it does seem a little far-fetched and unbelievable at times. There is a decided feminist thread to the story, with the mistreatment of vulnerable females by despicable men who control wealth and affairs in in nineteenth century society as the unavoidable and unpleasant message. An enjoyable, well-plotted read.

The Deception of Harrier Fleet is a well crafted Gothic novel in the classical style that gripped me from the start and kept me engaged until the end. It really checks all the right boxes: an isolated hall, a family with a dark history, allusions of ghosts/spirits, a murder - classical themes for a classic Gothic novel. Helen Scarlett skilfully adds more modern layers to the narrative like the condition of women in the 19th century, mental health, emotional and physiological abuse just to name a few. The resolution makes perfect sense from a modern perspective without taking anything away from the magic of a Gothic novel that lovers of the genre would expect.

If you are a Gothic lover, you will be very satisfied by this novel. But if Gothic is not your cup of tea, you would still be able to enjoy this, which I think is a testament to Scarlett's skill as a writer.

Many thanks for the opportunity to read this novel.

This to me is a bit like an updated Jane Eyre novel.. It was well written and I did enjoy it. I love gothic novels set in dark creepy places and this did not disappoint.. Full of secrets, threats and ghosts it an ideal book to curl up with on a dark rainy evening.

Escaping from troubles of her own, Harriet takes on a job as a governess at the forbidding Teesbank Hall but finds when she arrives that her job is less to educate than to monitor the erratic behaviour of her charge. The house is rife with secrets, most notoriously surrounding a murder that took place there that means that other people have as little to do with the family and the house as they can. Despite knowing it is best not to pry, Harriet is drawn into uncovering the details of the murder, and unravelling the secrets of the Wainwright family.

Gloriously gothic, this book was like a more eerie Jane Eyre. I really enjoyed the story, my only disappointment was that the ending when it came seemed slightly rushed - although everything is satisfyingly wrapped up, I would have liked more time devoted to the action of what happened at the end. But there are plenty of twists and turns in the plot, and the characters of Harriet and Eleanor in particular are very engaging and believable. I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would just by judging the cover.

With thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

This is a book of secrets. Harriet definitely has one and the book begins with her fleeing her home in Norfolk and travelling to the North East to take up the position of Governess to Eleanor. The house is dark and foreboding and a place the locals avoid. The hall and Harriet's experiences in her room will tick all your gothic boxes if you like that sort of thing, which I do. We quickly discover the events haunting this house and its occupants and what happened to the previous governess. The beginning of the book had some likenesses to the Woman in Black in my opinion.

Harriet soon finds she is not there to teach Eleanor but to watch over her and monitor what she eats causing distrust. Yet an interesting relationship develops when Harriet begins to probe into the death of Eleanor's brother Samuel who was murdered at the hall. Eleanor provides Harriet with snippets of information about the case and trial in return for short spells of freedom. Harriet continues to unravel the mystery of the death and as well as being well-plotted and a great story, it shines the light on the harsh treatment of women at the time. Harriet is penniless and trapped at the house and cannot return home due to what happened to her there. Eleanor, an intelligent woman, wants the same freedom as her brother but threats of the asylum keep her small and tethered and Eleanor's mother finds herself trapped in a marriage with a philandering and unpleasant man.

I thoroughly enjoyed this debut novel by Helen Scarlett that's full of twists and turns and would definitely be interested in reading her next book.

Brilliant book. Great story and loved and hated the characters. Lots of twists and turns too and loved the dark atmosphere throughout. I am shocked this is a debut novel as it was so good that I really didn't want to put it down and now I have to find something to read that matches it haha, Not going to be an easy task.

Harriet needs to flee her Norfolk home and chooses to hole up in Teesbank Hall in the North East of England as a governess to Eleanor, who is really too old for a governess. However, it doesn't take long for Harriet to realise that she is there to watch over her, rather than teach her. Teesbank Hall and the Wainwright family who live there are viewed with great suspicion by the locals, with good reason and during the course of the book we find out why. Both young women are hiding secrets and the Gothic story follows the unravelling of both of their tales.,

I did not guess the twists and turns, though I did find the ending a tad rushed. A great atmospheric, claustrophobic read, depicting Victorian life at its worst - oppressed women, skewed family relationships, asylums and illicit affairs. What's not to like?!

Set in the North East of England, The Deception of Harriet Fleet is a Victorian gothic murder mystery. A young woman flees her past life to the north to work as a governess at an isolated hall. The family she works for have many dark secrets which Harriet is drawn into by her charge.

This reminded me of the Victoria Holt novels and there is certainly references to Jane Eyre. An entertaining and easy read.