This is one of those stories that I felt like I didn't understand until 20 minutes after I finished the last page. Each chapter added to the story, rewrote my expectations, and made me rethink the chapters that came before. I spent a good chunk of the middle of the book solidly confused–but very importantly still along for the ride! Gothic horror isn't 100% my wheelhouse, but I tend to read and watch more within this genre because I have friends for whom it is 1000% their wheelhouse. This is going to be an easy recommendation for them! Caitlin Starling has a wonderful sense of atmosphere and each chapter feels like a step towards an inevitable end, a bit like a train accident in slow motion. I will say that I liked this book best after the end–sometimes stories like this need to be all wrapped up so that you can go back to the beginning to start pulling the threads out once again. Overall, this is going to be a wonderful spooky season read.
Things I didn't enjoy as much: the mirror-world/alternative post-war England felt unmoored at times because it was unclear how much was similar/different. I wanted a better sense of the world and the divide (or lack thereof) between magic, religion, and everyday society.
Recommended for readers who enjoyed the atmosphere of Mexican Gothic, those who enjoyed the mind-bending math of Middlegame, those who enjoyed the time-bending storyline of the Haunting of Hill House (TV show). As an aside, I'm surprised not to see more Bluebeard references– I think there are threads that could be pulled to easily make the connection! Anyways, probably not a good fit for the squeamish; those easily swayed to nightmares should only read this book during the middle of the day.

Fans of Crimson Peak, Rebecca, Mexican Gothic and Home Before Dark will love this gothic tale. 👻

Jane is approaching old-maid status in a world that is not unlike Postwar Britain and decides to proposition the local surgeon with a business offer: marry her. She does not care to know why such an eligible bachelor is still single, as long as he provides a place for her to stay and avoids becoming a burden to the family left in charge of her care after her parents died. The Doctor agrees on one condition—she may never spend a single night in his country home with him. This seems easy at first, with Jane sleeping at the surgery and doing the bookkeeping, as well assisting on some surgeries (a wild ride in a time before aseptic technique or anesthesia). Until one night, when an accident leaves her stranded at Lindridge Hall’s doorstep. The man who answers the door is nothing like the calm and collected surgeon she has come to know (and maybe fall in love with). What follows will take Jane’s strict world of logic and balance beyond what she could ever imagine.

This was a perfect mix of spooky and realism. The author pulls back the curtain on some of the supernatural elements, and instead of taking away from the suspense, it only adds to it. I loved a logical mathematician having to process the unknown. It was atmospheric and a fresh take on the gothic genre.

I am also a sucker for medical history and old school surgery. Has anyone else watched The Knick?? I would not say this book is necessarily gory, but if abdominal surgeries aren’t your thing then maybe seek your thrills elsewhere.

Rating: 🔪🔪🔪🔪/5

Thank you to @stmartinspress for giving an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

This book was very promising, a mish mash of Crimson Peak, House of Leaves and other gothic historical horror. It began very creepy and atmospheric. Then it took a major turn to the absurd, became stilted and short on exposition, just a series of very bizarre encounters by Jane Lawrence, alone and trapped in a house of ghosts.

I don’t really know how to say this other than to say, I didn’t really like it. I wish I had better news! Best of luck with this book to the author and publisher, I am certain there will be many that will enjoy the magic and the creepiness of this one despite my opinion.

This gothic horror story follows Jane Shoringfield in an alternate version of post war England. She is determined to find a husband and get married so she doesn't need to move from the town she's grown accustomed to. The man that meets her calculation is Dr Augustine Lawrence and he agrees to her proposition on one condition - that she will never spend a night at his residence Lindridge Hall. Jane agrees, and the two enter into a marriage of convenience. However, after an accident strands Jane at Lindridge Hall, she finds Lawrence confused and paranoid. As Jane spends more time at Lindridge Hall, she begins to find the skeletons in her new husband's closet.

TW/CW: medical procedures, pregnancy loss

The setting of this book was phenomenal. I love a good rundown estate on the edge of town and book really delivered. I really enjoyed the mythos and mystery surrounding Lindridge Hall and the Lawrence family. I found the descriptions of the home to be perfectly balanced between giving us the information we need and setting a really nice atmosphere. I really liked the details we get around Augustine's medical practice and his collection of specimens. I also liked the details we get about Jane's home before they were married and Augustine's medical office/apartment but the core of the story is really Lindridge Hall. Starling does a great job of laying down the breadcrumbs and little questions that get answered later on as we peel back more and more layers to the story. I think these stories can sometimes rely too heavily on the spooky house aspect and it can come off as a bit cartoonish. In this case, however, I didn't find it to be overdone at all. While there were some rumors that Jane finds out about, it isn't like the town is terrified of Augustine. If anything, the general town seems to really like Augustine and respect him as the town doctor.

I liked the characters of Jane and Augustine and their budding relationship. I found both of them to be really set in their characteristics but still had enough room for growth. They really seemed to be a really good match and I was excited to see how they would work through this situation together. There were some romantic elements but I didn't really find the romance arc of the story to be as well developed as I would have liked. Now, this isn't a romance book and it isn't marketed as one, but in order for certain plot points to advance, Jane and Augustine need to have a certain level of feelings for each other and I just didn't feel like there was enough development for my personal liking. I do wish we would have gotten some more of Jane and Augustine working together. We do get some scenes of them working in the medical office together which I really liked and showed how well they worked together as a team. The book takes place only over a couple of weeks, but I do think there was a good amount of character development during that time.

I did find the third act pacing was slower than I wanted it to be. There's a certain time limit that Jane has and we go through each day of that time limit pretty in depth. The actions Jane takes during this time are pretty repetitive which further add to the pacing dragging. I think if the time frame had been a few days shorter, then it would have helped the pacing along. I did find the plot and tension moving forward during this time, but not quickly or dramatically enough to out-shine the pacing issue I was having. I found this problem did lessen the overall impact of the climax of the story and it was the main issue I had with the story. I liked the substance and plot points we were hitting during this last third, but I wanted the delivery method to be a bit different.

The supernatural elements of the story were really well woven into the other plot points and wasn't overpowering. I really liked the way the elements were introduced to the story and how skeptical Jane was at the beginning. She's very mathematically minded and I thought the way she processed the information she was getting from these different sources. I also loved how her logical approach continued even when faced with aspects that she initially found unbelievable. I did think the story was going to be more of Jane and Augustine teaming up together but it was really Jane's journey that we were following. I will say that some of the supernatural elements were not fully explained, which I personally thought really worked well with the other aspects of the plot but I know some readers like a more structured explanation of the events that happen in the book.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The setting was exactly what I want in a gothic horror and I found the characters to be well developed. I did find the pacing to drag a bit toward the end, but overall I was really invested in the plot. I thought the supernatural elements were well developed and well integrated into the story.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for this ARC in exchange for review.

Expected publication date is October 5, 2021.

I haven’t finished this yet, mostly due to personal life constraints. I’m a quarter of the way through and wanted to make sure my feedback got sent before pub date! I’m loving this title! I have so many ideas of what could be going on and I’m hoping the pay off is great. It’s well written and Jane’s character, while not explicitly anything at the point I’ve read, feels very relatable as a demisexual. While her feelings are a little more rapid, I personally found it very similar to how I tend to feel and how I think I would have approached marriage if I were living in a society still under those constraints. Also the atmosphere is great!! So spooky!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Ms. Starling for the opportunity to read an ARC of this title. An honest review was requested but not required.


This is that time of year when I really try hard to find a scary book. I thought I'd hit the jackpot with this one. Ms. Starling starts off with a great premise: a gothic, alterna-Britain setting with an isolated, crumbling, frightening house, a lonely heroine, a brooding, handsome doctor who is CLEARLY hiding something, and GHOSTS. Big time ghosts. The entire abandoned ramshackle mansion was so atmospheric, and so psychologically disturbing, I had to turn on all my lights. Jane's descent into... madness? magic? despair? was absolutely gripping.

Unfortunately, as another reviewer stated (and probably did so more eloquently), the book's strength was also its weakness. Jane's descent into madness descended a little TOO far. I can handle the darkness but the metaphysical ruminations and abstract concepts got to be too much for me to handle. Frankly I was confused by what was going on and/or what Jane was talking about. I really didn't understand the ending. Maybe I'm the only one?

Full marks for spookiness up til about 65% then I have to admit I didn't care much for the end. But that's just me!

First of all, with a cover like that, who wouldn't want to pick this one up? That cover is easily one of the best of the year.

This is the story of a young woman named Jane, who, like other women in this time, have very few choices outside of marriage. Though she'd rather be working with accounting sheets, she knows she must marry if for no other reason than to free her guardians from looking after her forever. Jane chooses the local surgeon for her husband, proposing to him the business aspect of what their marriage could mean for both of them. After some persuasion, the doctor accepts, with the condition that Jane is never to spend the night at his large manor, and she will reside above the surgery instead.

Of course, the day of their wedding, Jane ends up at his crumbling manor, where she encounters terrifying things. As she spends more time there, she begins to crumble into mania herself after learning about her husband's troubled past. Jane must put aside her logical mind and begin to realize that there is more to this world than can rationally be explained, especially where ghosts and magic may be involved.

I had such a great time with this book. It was the perfect way to get into spooky season, and I'm sure I've never read anything else quite like it. What I loved so much about this book was the way the author's passion for medical history came through. I loved reading about the old medical practices and procedures throughout the book. I also thought Jane's descent into madness was super well done, and as readers, I felt like I was going down with her. The characters were fantastic, the world building was excellent, and the plot was fascinating.

All around a great spooky treat of a book that gave me several nightmares. Loved it!

This book had me utterly terrified and thrilled in equal parts. The Death of Jane Lawrence is a breathtaking gothic horror that throws gore at the beloved Crimson Peak.
All of the spooky vibes were raising the hair on my skin while dissecting this. The old family manor of Doctor Lawrence had a visible threatening mystery that his newlywed Jane was unwinding. The description had my teeth grinding (in a good way, sorta.) This book needed to be taken in pieces. As beautiful as the writing was, the over-descriptive atmosphere and actions were hard to bite onto and run with. I kept needing to pause and give myself a break before jumping back into this dark gem.
While it did live up to the high standard I had walking into it, it wasn't perfect either. The twists and mystery had me sticking with it and overall enjoying the outcoming. 4 stars to the first horror book read this spooky season.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

As soon as I saw the word "gothic" on the description of Caitlin Starling's latest book THE DEATH OF JANE LAWRENCE, I hit the request button on Netgalley. "Gothic" is one of my favorite words as someone who studied early gothic novels and whose own writing has been rejected for being "too gothic." Thankfully Starling's book does not disappoint on the gothic front.

This book leans so hard into typical gothic tropes (marriage of convenience, moldering countryside estate, whispering servants) that it could have been cheesy, but I assure you, it's not. Our orphaned main character, Jane, seeks a marriage of convenience with a local doctor who says he will marry her on the condition that she stay in town while he spends every night at his remote estate. From there, practical and mathematically-minded Jane finds herself in increasingly bizarre circumstances as she unravels the truth of her husband's past.

This certainly has notes of other gothic novels like The Haunting of Hill House or Rebecca without feeling derivative. I don't want to give too much away about the book, but I'll say about 60% of the way the narrative begins to flag a bit. It does recover nicely at the end, though, so stick with it to fully experience this gothic tale.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC of this book in exchange for a fair review.

The general concept of a woman marrying a husband with a mysterious house full of secrets is not a new one, but what Caitlin Starling does with this premise in "The Death of Jane Lawrence" is fully original and deeply enjoyable. Set in a fictional world that reads as a purposefully anachronistic historical fiction, the story follows Jane who makes for a complicated but likeable main character, and the man she goes on to marry, Augustine Lawrence. Wading into themes of gothic horror and magic while also tackling the grief and trauma of its characters, the book skillfully weaves a tale that is altogether spooky and intriguing. It's full of logical fallacies and the pull of the unknown, drawing you in alongside Jane herself. The more the book went on, the more I loved it, pulled into this mysterious world and this strange house.
I highly recommend it.

3.5 stars rounded down

Starling is a master of atmosphere. Whether that's claustrophobic (and maybe haunted) caves on a wasteland planet, a cult/farm, a spooky garden, or, now, a haunted manor.

There were, however, two big things that kept me from really buying into this story: one was pacing (the middle section before Jane's inevitable descent into madness dragged - and even the madness stretched wide) and the other were the jumps in logic / assumptions we had to make to buy in to the contents of the story.

Jane wanted a marriage of convenience but falls irreparably in love with this guy after talking to him 3 times? Also, what does everyone else think about this eclectic doctor who retreats to the crumbling manse every night? Jane seems to be the only one who questions it.

There were some brilliant parallels at the end, and some decisions that I thought were a little bit much. And I found myself very interested in the sheer number of people who dabbled with witchcraft - and why some of them suffered extreme consequences and others just had a fun time.

Book Rating: 4 1/2 stars
Audiobook Rating: 5 stars

Wow! This was a gothic romance that was heavy on the creep factor. Who would have thought that a book about a marriage of convenience between an accountant and a doctor would end up being quite so scary? From the first page, The Death of Jane Lawrence had me under its gothic spell.

This book was just what I needed - - a creepy, Gothic setting with an aging country estate, a mysterious doctor with secrets and an insecure but talented accountant and a great deal of additional back story that will keep you engrossed in this tale. Our main character, Jane is a talented accountant who no longer wants to be a burden on the family who took her in years before as their ward. As they are preparing to move to another area, she realizes that she won't be unable to stay behind and be unwed. Therefore, she makes a list of eligible young men in the area and Dr. Augustine Lawrence is at the top. When she approaches him with the proposition, he hesitates. However, he soon acquiesces, but has several rules. They sound strange and creepy - - and they end up being in place for just those reasons.

I was really impressed with how the author blended the different elements of this story together. There were some twists I didn't see coming. The characters were so well-developed. The suspense and horror elements were done with such flair. I was glued to this story all the way through.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: The narration for this book was perfection. The narrator's voice and accent lent to the creepy and gothic feel of the novel. The pacing was well done. The narrator kept the listener's attention and made you want to continue on with the story. I both read and listened to the audio version. In my opinion, the audio made the story even better.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. I voluntarily chose to review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

It's easy for some of us with our modern-day sensibilities to feel smugly superior as we read about bloodletting or root therapies or other such medical practices from days gone by until we recall how in the early days of the covid pandemic the president of the United States proposed bleach as a therapy and even now, with a proven life-saving vaccine that is as close to a modern-day miracle as any of us is ever likely to see in our lives, millions of our fellow Americans choose to reject the vaccine as well as science in general and opt for ingesting discredited substances including one for livestock. All of which is to say that there's much of current relevance to Caitlin Starling's "The Death of Jane Lawrence," with its presentation of a young woman so scientifically and rationally inclined that she goes about choosing a mate according to pluses and minuses on a ledger sheet but who also falls prey to magical influences when she accompanies her chosen to his family home, where she's been warned not to spend the night. It's something of a classic Gothic setup which normally I'm not a big fan of, but in this case the buildup was sufficiently intriguing to have had me willing to take a chance on a novel whose description admittedly didn't hold out a lot of promise for being other than what it was billed as. Still, I had thought from my sampling of its first 50 pages and the obvious erudition about mathematics and science that the author shows that science might ultimately carry the day, but in the end I was disappointed that it was the spook stuff, albeit in an ambiguous way, that predominated. Which I’ll grant is more a reflection of my own literary preferences than any sort of legitimate judgment against the author, but still I couldn't help thinking that with her obvious knowledge about mathematics and her manifest writing skills she has the capability to produce something truly insightful about the human inclination for delusion in the way of, say, John Fowles' masterpiece of science and magic, "The Magus," at a time when real-life science is under attack from forces every bit as scary and destructive as any of those assaulting Starling's heroine. Still, if spook stories are your thing, and in particular very well-written ones with literary overtones, Starling's your woman.

The book started with a bang. And then it left me somewhere behind, and I felt like I wasted a lot of time getting to the end.

The story is about Jane. She is smart and maybe a little excentric for the time she lives in. She doesn't want to marry or fall in love, all she needs are her numbers. But life doesn't work like that and she needs a husband, to "fit" in the society. So she does what she does best, adds up all the numbers and chooses her husband. She offers hims a deal, since he is just as excentric as her and lives a lonely doctor's life. And that's where everything goes down the hill for Jane.

She quickly learns about what it means to be a doctor in those times. There's a lot of blood and diving in with your hands into the flesh. But also a lot of guilt, as most can't be saved. But those who survive - it feels like by magic only. Jane is quick to find that her husband is riddled with guilt, and the house he stays in every night is most likely haunted. And it's killing her husband slowly, but maybe the house found someone new to kill?

Well the beginning was haunting and bloody and I loved it. I loved that Jane was trying to taker her life in her own hands and choose how she'll live it out. But then magic entered, quite literally. And I got so confused. Jane spiraled down into her own mind, into the whole magic, and ghosts, and it wasn't clear at all what was happening for the bigger second half of the book.

The stakes weren't there for me. It felt like a pointless obsession with the house and how to cure everything magically. It was very vague offer to Jane, and it didn't feel real, so I didn't understand why her as such a critically thinking person could have spiraled down like that.

I finished the book, and kind of regretting doing so. It felt like I wasted a lot of time for no reward. Though the writing is really good, it isn't boring, and it flowed really well. But the plot was pointless for me.

Thank you to the publisher for my review copy. Rounding up from 2.5

I received a copy of this novel through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was pleasantly surprised by this novel and the way the characters grew on me so much as I continued to read. When the novel first started I wasn’t sure if I was actually going to be able to finish it, as it was a little dry and a lot boring. However, I would say that within about the first 25 pages boom smacked in the face with the beginning of a story that compelled me to keep reading and pushed me through the end.

Jane and Augustine are an amazing pair. The way they balance each other and how they both grew within the novel was fantastic. The story line had me wondering what was really going on, and the spooky stuff, that had my heart beating faster.

Completely enjoyed this novel and look forward to more by the author

Jane Shoringfield was nothing but practical when deciding the best path for her future was to marry Dr. Augustine Lawrence. Sure it’s a business arrangement, and okay, his residence is a crumbling, decrepit family manor she isn’t allowed to visit. But it’s for the best. Until she becomes stranded at the one place she isn’t meant to be. Jane sees things in the halls, hears things in the walls, and something is wrong with Augustine. Sometimes the smart choice isn’t the safe one.

I love gothic horror stories, but I had a really hard time getting into this one. I often found myself skimming pages, and sadly not missing any important information.

While the writing is great with the story starting out perfectly atmospheric with the perfect setting in Lindridge Hall- Augustine’s creepy old family manor that is gloomy and falling apart- the plot just wasn’t enough to keep me glued to the pages. Jane finds herself wrapped in a magical mystery that confuses the reader with alternate timelines, that to me felt choppy and not fully developed.

I found the majority of the characters dull, but I did enjoy our heroine Jane, who while practical, also remains morally grey. She just wasn’t strong enough to hold the story together for me.

While I didn’t love the story I also didn’t hate it, and you should definitely check it out and form your own opinion.

*Thank you to Netgalley & St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review.

The story and premise is so cool but unfortunately is lost in over-writing and frankly confusing prose. I get that the author was trying to create atmosphere? but it bogged the story down and I started and stopped this book more times than I could count. The beginning failed to draw me in and the book overall was a muddled mess. I had high hopes for this gothic horror but it didn't deliver, in the end.

Gothic horror at its finest! The Death of Jane Lawrence centers around Jane, a woman whose life is guided by logic and whose solace is found in mathematics. After entering a marriage of convenience to the town's doctor, Jane is thrust into circumstances that completely change her perception of reality. A huge decaying manor, Lindridge Hall, is the primary setting, and is pretty much a character in itself. I was almost overwhelmed at points in the book because it kept getting more exciting - the atmosphere, characters, everything was just so well written. There is a portion of the book where so much happens in a short amount of time that it doesn't seem like it can get any wilder - but then it does! I loved that I could never quite figure out how it might end. The book is a sensory masterpiece and I will be recommending it far and wide. Thank you to Netgalley, Caitlin Starling, and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

After seeing this comped to the likes of Mexican Gothic and Rebecca, I went into The Death of Jane Lawrence with fairly high expectations, and while the story started off strongly, it unfortunately withered away into something I struggled to make sense of and found myself skim reading.

Jane Shoringfield is a sensible woman, she knows in this society she must marry, but she does not feel that she could marry for love and so she uses maths to decide upon the best choice. Reclusive doctor Augustine Lawrence is at first put off by Jane's strange proposal, but he quickly comes to see the sense in it and agrees under one condition, she must never visit Lindridge hall, his ancestral home. Jane, expecting this to be a marriage of convenience and not love agree's, but one one night when a storm rains out the road she finds herself on his doorstep, wet, bedraggled & with nowhere to go. Augustine let's her in, but he is not the man she left mere minutes ago, and Jane quickly comes to realise there is something deeply wrong with Lindridge hall, and she must step out of the confines of the known and into the unreal if she and Augustine are to make it out alive.

Jane was a unique character, an orphan after the war took her mother and father, she has been raised by the Shoringfields but knows she can't stay their ward forever. She always felt like a burden, and so taught herself to do Mr Shoringfields books, making sure she was valuable to them in some way. She likes maths, with it's clear and defined rules, and simply wishes for a life where she can continue doing what she loves. What she didn't expect was for Augustine, and the feelings that follow him entering her life. Seeing her step out of her comfort zone was an interesting experience, she has to go from trusting in the factual to believing in the unknown, but she is strong and resilient, and will do anything to save the man she has grown to love. I so wanted to care about her and her actions, but I just really struggled to relate to or care for her in any way.

There are a multitude of side characters, all of whom are written incredibly blandly. I didn't end up caring about a single one of the characters, they were all one dimensional, and though some were used to effectively further the story, there weer plenty that served little purpose in the story.

As for the mystery of Lindridge hall itself, we somehow both learned what was wrong too early on with it equally seeming like it took an age for us to get there. There were too many 'fill in' scenes, that added nothing to the plot, nor ensured we found ourselves caring for the characters. I didn't expect the magical element to be quite so in your face, and I definitely struggled to get my head around the magic system, how it worked, who could wield it, why it made Lindridge hall the way it was. I do feel this would have worked better had a little more been left to the imagination, with the comps to the likes of Rebecca I expected it to be more of a mystery/horror, when in reality it ended up reading like a gory, slasher style movie that had me more disgusted than intrigued.

I feel like the author just tried to add too many elements to this story, with Augustine's history, Jane's Math and the magic it all got forced together until I had literally 0 idea what was happening, I struggled to not only follow the story, but to envision what was actually taking place and I ended up skim reading the last 3rd of the book so see if we would get a semi-interesting and fulfilling ending... we didn't. Had I not been buddy reading this it would have become a dnf for me around 50% in. I have heard that this is completely different from the authors other works so I would still be willing to check them out, but I would seriously lower my expectations before going in.

I have been following Caitlin Starling's work since The Luminous Dead (a book I will still take any opportunity to push on fellow readers). Caitlin Starling writes with such a distinct style and voice, without overriding her character' unique voices. The Death of Jane Lawrence feels just like her other novels. You open it an know this was Starling's work. She's excellent at creating suspense and frightening imagery. And readers will be drawn into her character's frustration and determination. This was not my favorite title by the author, and I'm still a little torn about how I feel about the ending. But I spent a good half hour describing the book to my husband, so you know it's worth talking about. I will absolutely be recommending this book to people looking for light horror or unsettling fiction.