The Death of Jane Lawrence, by Caitlin Starling, has just joined the club of books that made me think, “what the hell did I just read?” This fantastical, horrifying novel takes place in a world that feels Victorian, but where magic is a mythical and very dangerous thing. The rules of this world’s magic involve rituals, strange ingredients, and a lot of dedication. After nearly 400 pages, that’s all I know. This might frustrate some readers. It certainly frustrated me a bit. The eponymous character Jane was so interesting and so fierce that I was able to make it through whole chapters where I wasn’t sure I knew what was going on, but she doesn’t quite make up for the muddled narrative. To be honest, my favorite parts of this book were the chapters before Jane takes up magic.

Jane is an odd duck. She prefers accounting and mathematics to anything else, and we are told that her cool logic puts people off. When her guardians decide to move to the capital, where her annuity won’t go far enough, Jane surveys the local bachelors to try and find herself a husband. She decides on the new(ish) doctor, Augustine Lawrence. After a little argumentation—and some sparks that romance readers will recognize—Jane and Augustine come to an agreement. They will marry. Jane will live in the surgery in town. Augustine will spend his nights at his ancestral pile, where Jane is forbidden to stay. Of course, that agreement immediately breaks down due to a washed-out road that prevents Jane from traveling back to town after a semi-celebratory dinner.

And then things get weird. Really weird. There are ghosts. The house is haunted by strange creatures. Things move around with no explanation. Worse of all for Jane, she learns that Augustine is emotionally haunted by a dead woman who later turns out to be his dead first wife. By this point, I was getting serious Jane Eyre vibes; vibes that might have made me feel more disappointed by this book than I might have otherwise. (For a much better, and much more interesting, retelling of Jane Eyre, try Jane Steele, by Lindsay Faye.) Just when I thought things couldn’t get any weirder for Jane and the doctor, Jane starts manifesting magic against whatever is trying to either drive them mad or kill them both.

The Death of Jane Lawrence touches on some interesting themes about arrogance, the limits of human ingenuity to prevent death, and messing with things that should not be messed with. But the end of this book is such a muddle that I really have no idea what Jane was doing or why in her efforts to try and rescue her husband. Worse, I thought that all of the solid character development for Jane went right out the window after she gets married. We are told more than once that Jane is logical, a problem-solver. But the hauntings and her growing affection for Augustine turn her into almost a completely different person. I hate to use the word, but Jane is hysterical more often than not. It’s only later, after Augustine gaslights her or another character tries to explain away whatever supernatural shenanigans just happened, that she manages to calm down and use her brain. This is what I found out of character and it really bothered me. I expected a so-called coldly logical woman to be able to walk into a haunted mansion without going to pieces. I really wish this book had lived up to the promise of its first chapters.

“𝗚𝗼. 𝗚𝗼 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗶𝘁-𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲, 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗰, 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄.”

Have you been sleeping on gothic horror? Well, wake up because spooky season is right around the corner and 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗛 𝗢𝗙 𝗝𝗔𝗡𝗘 𝗟𝗔𝗪𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘 comes out 𝗢𝗖𝗧𝗢𝗕𝗘𝗥 𝟱𝗧𝗛.

Jane is seeking a husband and she’s found the perfect candidate: Dr. Augustine Lawrence. The only problem is that she has to convince him to marry her.

With a proposal like a business arrangement, the deal has been struck. Jane was built for numbers, not intimacy. And she plans to keep it that way. But, Jane doesn’t expect her feelings for Dr. Lawrence to burn red hot on her skin.

Augustine has told Jane that she is never to stay the night at Lindridge Hall. It’s a dilapidated mansion, with secrets seeping from its walls and shadows creeping up on you…with red eyes in the night.

Lining the walls of the study are the many medical curiosities. But they tell of something deeper, something darker… a secret perhaps?

𝗜𝗙 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘:
Gothic horror
Haunted mansions
Victorian surgery
Magic and rituals

Then 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗛 𝗢𝗙 𝗝𝗔𝗡𝗘 𝗟𝗔𝗪𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘 might be a book that you need in your life.

I had to reread parts towards the end because it made my head spin. It left me feeling creeped out and uneasy. But I thoroughly enjoyed it!

4 ⭐️

My inability to finish this one may stem from my failure to understand that a "dark-mirror version of post-war England" (in the synopsis) actually means an alternative-history (but also not, because actually it seems to be magic/fantasy, with poorly considered alternative names - "Great Breltain" - just overlaid real placenames?). Had this even not been the case, I'm still not entire I would've wanted to continue reading because I didn't particularly enjoy the actual writing itself. I can absolutely see that it's likely engaging for another sort of reader but unfortunately it just didn't work for me. I'm not posting outside of Netgallety because I didn't read far enough to justify a negative public review.

Jane Shoringfield selects a husband as she would a business partner, and when Dr. Augustine Lawrence accepts her proposal things look settled to their mutual agreement. She will be his accountant and medical assistant, living in rooms above his small town office, and he will continue living in his family home, the formidable Lindridge Hall where the staff leaves at sundown, and no one sleeps but Augustine. The wedding celebration, however, interrupts the arrangement, and Jane sleeps over in the mansion, finding things her mathematical mind cannot explain. And her relationship with Dr. Lawrence might not be as platonic as anticipated. All of the Gothic elements one might hope for--creepy house in an alternative post WWI environment, good ancillary characters, life threatening situations, a little romance, plus ghosts that are far from benign. Fine narration from Mandy Weston keeps the story moving right along, and there are no lulls in the action. An excellent listen.

The Death of Jane Lawrence was such a great book! I had no idea what I was in for and I was blown away. The author is a master at sensory writing and really has you feeling the cold slabs and smelling the blood. Amazing writing. Yes, there is a lot of blood so prepare accordingly. The story was really solid and only got a tad confusing ear the end, Speaking of which, I loved the ending. This is a perfect book for a stormy fall night. Hoping to read a whole lot more from this author.

This is gothic horror done correctly. The haunted atmosphere, the characters with frightening secrets, and the slow, but steady pace are all standouts. My favourite part though is Jane Lawrence herself, a wonderfully written character - I had to keep reading, simply because I needed to know what happens to her.
Highly recommended for these chilly, fall nights that are fast approaching.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for the ARC to read and review. All opinions are my own.

This was a gothic horror unlike one I’ve read for a long time, and I was appreciative for it, coming into spooky season.
The story follows our heroine, Jane, as she tries to extricate herself from a situation in which she personally has put herself. This book encompasses all of the most fall, autumn, halloweeny, and horror-y of topics you could imagine. Witchcraft, ghosts, hauntings, possessions.
The book was very well-written and allowed me to escape from the horror that we see outside into a completely different time period, and different world. You see, the world in this tale is close enough to ours to not be worrisome, but different enough to allow you to not be too scared. I would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys the Halloween season, gothic horror, or just a really good book that will allow you to transport yourself somewhere completely different, and maybe get a little scare while you are at it.

As I round the bend into Spooky Season, I am glad that I am slowly building my repertoire of horror recommendations. While it didn’t topple The Route of Ice and Salt as my favourite horror novel, The Death of Jane Lawrence might have broke even with it. I was genuinely impressed and creeped out.
This novel has a fascinating preoccupation with the Victorian obsession with the occult. This allows it the slasher worthy descriptions of blood and gore, but also provides a surreal psychological element (think ouroboros) to go alongside the visceral horror. Basically it is a ghost story, a medical body horror, a cautionary tale, and a psychological thriller all rolled into one, and I was both grossed out and riveted through most of it—and don’t get me started on the ending! If I wasn’t worried about spoilers I could talk in circles about the retrospect scene for hours.
Normally I don’t touch much on trigger warnings. However, I do feel the need to mention that there is a non-MC ectopic pregnancy, which might be an issue for someone affected by miscarriages or other fertility related issues.
That PSA aside, I wholly recommend adding The Death of Jane Lawrence to your October TBR. It is the perfect read for a haunted Halloween night… or any time you feel the need for a tingle down your spine.

This book really made my head spin with its whimsical horror and gothic edge - aspects that I ate up instantly. It didn’t feel like the story had truly begun until about halfway through, but the atmospheric writing and promise of a budding mystery kept me going. Once the story hit its stride, I was wholly invested. The author truly delved into the horror and gore of what was happening to Jane without being gratuitous. But by the end, I felt like I was cheated out of something more fantastical. I expected a twist that would’ve matched the dizzying tale that had been spun before me, yet that didn’t happen. Instead I was left unsurprised and wanting an ending as bizarre as the preceding events.

This was a truly creepy chiller! It's perfect for the season. I am not a historical fiction reader, but I truly enjoyed this horror set in a gothic Victorian past. There was a lot of body horror which I did not expect from the cover -- I happen to enjoy this but will definitely share that caveat with my patrons when I recommend it. The twists and turns were fantastical and gory and just very original and mindbending. Thank you very much for the opportunity to enjoy this unique read.

Jane Shorefield wants to marry. But she approaches this desire in a pragmatic and sensible way. She appeals to the local doctor with a proposal that is more business venture than traditional matrimony.

He accepts after much pursuation but not before making one demand; Jane is to never visit Lindridge Hall. While Jane agrees circumstances outside of her control make it so that she ends up stranded at the moldering Gothic estate.

This story started spooky and mysterious. There are lots of grotesque body malformations the Dr. keeps in his office. They lent to the over all creepiness of the story. The doctor's weird behavior and possible ghost hauntings had the ingredients for a truly delicious horror story.

I wanted to know what in the world was going on in this house. I was curious about Dr. Lawrence's mercurial behavior. I was also drawn into the surprising romance that started to blossom between the cool, scientific, no nonsense couple.

The juxtaposition of magic and science in this time where people were still being bled as a course of treatment was also interesting. I also enjoyed how there were female doctors, psychiatrists, and Jane herself was an accountant that loved math.

However, the second part of the book seriously falls apart. Jane spirals into madness trying to figure out the secrets of the manor. At first her inner turmoil works. But then this descent into madness and paranoia is recounted in excruciating detail. We are told about every book she reads, every failed spell, and every passing thought of what she might try. This goes on for the majority of the last 50 or 60 percent of the book.

And in the end it was a jumbled mess of a conclusion that I really still don't understand even though I reread it. It was disappointing to see such a promising premise squandered.

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC.

I enjoyed the medical and science aspects of the book but I started to get lost after the beginning. The plot just wasn't doing it for me. It was very atmospheric and had a gothic feel to it, but I also need an engaging and entertaining plot that goes in one direction. I think fans of House of Leaves or Shirley Jackson will enjoy this one, but those weren't my favorites either.

This book is down to its core a work of true gothic horror, keeping its promises of the grotesque from its opening words and beyond. As such, I wanted to love it. However, as I neared the end, I found the pacing slogged, spending too much time unraveling the unique magic system of this world—the post Great War country of “Great Breltain.”

Jane herself was a refreshing heroine, smart and logical to her core with a particular fascination with mathematics. Whereas I applaud the author’s attempts to use mathematics and philosophy to explain her world’s magic system, I often found myself bored and taken out of the story by such long exposition—even though it was given within dialogue.

Overall, I did not hate this book. I think it will stand well on the shelf alongside MEXICAN GOTHIC and other such novels, and if you have a deep-rooted love for strong and smart female characters and Poe-style gothic romance, I think this exactly the book that will get you in the mood for Halloween. If you find yourself skipping over some of the more laborious details of the “spells,” well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

The Death of Jane Lawrence started out with my full attention: a pragmatic young woman with a penchant for numbers, living in a post-war world that can only be described as an alternative Britain, makes a list of ten bachelors and chooses the quirky, twitchy Dr. Augustine Lawrence to be her husband. I was fascinated a woman in this earlier time period, when women had to marry or become pitied spinsters, would propose a "business" arrangement to a total stranger, and have it accepted. Despite Augustine's clear apprehension, nay, fear of marrying anyone, he agrees to marry Jane. But their arrangement comes with one unbreakable rule: he is to live at his family home, Lindridge Hall, and she cannot stay beyond sunset. I was captured.

Of course the rule is broken their wedding night and Jane finds herself living in a haunted house with a possibly unsound but definitely secretive stranger. As they both feel a mutual attraction, there is an undertone of suspicion during the first few days of their "business" arrangement. While Jane is the more practical of the two-even using mathematical theorems to analyze all the weird occurrences in her new home-Augustine is reserved and a mystery. Lindridge Hall, obviously once an elegant country manor, is now decrepit and falling apart. Its gardens are overgrown, most of the rooms are cold and dusty, the windows broken, and furniture dilapidated; only Augustine's study with its creepy skulls and embalmed body parts is intact.

This was a fascinating ghost story until Augustine's former medical colleagues make a surprise visit. While they are able to fill in some of the blanks concerning Augustine, their presence tosses a metaphysical, magical element to the mystery. Their belief in the supernatural, complete with spells and the black arts, could have added a wicked underlying context to the story; instead I found it confusing, and overwrought. When Jane finds she must perform a spell that will take seven days to complete, I inwardly groaned by day two--it was a looong spell.

Jane's descent into madness is exhausting, her narrative unreliable. This could have been an engrossing part of the book but instead it was like the seven-day spell: really, really long. I found myself skipping full paragraphs and like some other readers have noted, I didn't miss anything. Whenever Jane found herself confronted by the ghostly residents of Lindridge Hall or discovering more secrets in Augustine's past, I was fascinated. The scenes involving the occult could have been equally fascinating and a great element to the story if they weren't so overanalyzed.

Now, the ending that had many readers' knickers in a twist; I agree with them. There is a chapter, confusing and prolonged as it was, that should have been the end of the story. I should not ever second-guess a writer but the potential for a bang on ending was there.

It was a good read but not one that satisfied.

(My thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for my copy of this book in exchange for an honest review)

The Death of Jane Lawrence is the embodiment of gothic horror, but on steroids!! It has the traditional arranged marriage between unsuspecting woman and mysterious but attractive man. Loved that this time the woman, Jane, is a brilliant minded woman with an affinity for numbers, and the man, Augustine, is a renown surgeon working in a small town. There is the family home that is in disrepair that Augustine doesn’t want Jane to be at, for mysterious untold reasons. What adds to the story, is the added elements of spiritualism and the post-war world of fictional countries. I loved that the deeper we got into the story the more the writing made you think and question the reality, all while Jane is questioning her own reality. It gets to a point where I felt transcended to another spiritual plane and felt like we’d time warped to some other dimension. This was a brilliantly written novel, with the perfect amount of spookiness.

This book was an awesome prospect and it started out just riveting. A woman with a need to find a husband, she mathematically placed a certain doctor as the perfect husband. She could do his books and they could be mutually beneficial to each other, no strings. No intimacy. Until things start to unravel and she is thrust into a gothic mystery that bends the mind and alters reality.

The first third of the book was spot on, but as Jane declines into a world of magic and half-truths, I felt unclear about exactly what was going on to the point where I had to put the book down for a couple of days. There is definitely a feeling of insanity and frankly, it made me dizzy.

The end has an interesting wrap-up and I am still thinking about it.

I wanted to give this page-turner a 5 star rating, but the miasma of crazy head games in the middle was a bit too much. I never did completely understand the alternate reality that was going on, but that's fine. If it had a little less repetition of the same events, that would have also tightened the work.

That said, I look forward to the next book by this author and will have to check out her other works. Great creepiness abounding and so much potential!

Three Stars
DNF @ 60%


I don’t read much fiction, but occasionally enjoy gothic horror- especially when it takes place in England. This book had a promising start, but at about the halfway mark went off the rails for me. I no longer have the will to invest the time to finish this.

For a brief synopsis, this takes place in a fictional place called Great Breltain. Jane has lived with the Cunninghams most of her life, but now that they are moving away because of her “father’s” new judgeship, she is looking to marry. It sounds like this takes place in Victorian times (or earlier), where a woman needs to be attached to a man in society. So she proposes a marriage/business arrangement to young Dr. Augustine Lawrence. She already has performed accountant services for her father, so hopes to lend these talents to the doctor’s practice. Dr. Lawrence, while young and good-looking, has an air of melancholy and mystery.

As a trial run of sorts, Jane is summoned to his surgery where a very chaotic scene of a man who has seemingly stabbed himself needs emergency treatment. It was a riveting account where Jane rose to the occasion assisting Dr. Lawrence in his life-saving ministrations. The immediate aftermath was a high for both, but the adrenaline soon unraveled with fear and doom. One of the terms agreed upon was that only Dr. Lawrence would stay/sleep at his family’s longtime residence, Lindridge Hall. Jane would remain at the home which housed the surgery. But of course, events unfold which land Jane at Lindridge Hall, where ghosts, blood, scorcery and a basement crypt make it a place to stay far away from!

As I alluded to before, I was immediately drawn into this macabre tale, but just beyond the halfway point it became a muddled mess to read that made little sense. I felt tossed about in a violent rainstorm where my horse carriage turned over in the mud. I just don’t have the fortitude or desire to go on, so I rate this 3 Stars at the 60% mark.

Thank you to to the publisher St. Martin’s Press for providing an advance reader copy via NetGalley.

"Practical, unassuming Jane Shoringfield has done the calculations, and decided that the most secure path forward is this: a husband, in a marriage of convenience, who will allow her to remain independent and occupied with meaningful work. Her first choice, the dashing but reclusive doctor Augustine Lawrence, agrees to her proposal with only one condition: that she must never visit Lindridge Hall, his crumbling family manor outside of town.

Yet on their wedding night, an accident strands her at his door in a pitch-black rainstorm, and she finds him changed. Gone is the bold, courageous surgeon, and in his place is a terrified, paranoid man—one who cannot tell reality from nightmare, and fears Jane is an apparition, come to haunt him. By morning, Augustine is himself again, but Jane knows something is deeply wrong at Lindridge Hall, and with the man she has so hastily bound her safety to.

Set in a dark-mirror version of post-war England, Caitlin Starling crafts a new kind of gothic horror from the bones of the beloved canon. This Crimson Peak-inspired story assembles, then upends, every expectation set in place by Shirley Jackson and Rebecca, and will leave readers shaken, desperate to begin again as soon as they are finished."

Mention Crimson Peak and Rebecca and I'm in. Another reviewer mentioned Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and I am SO IN!

This was very atmospheric, very gothic, very spooky. The reader is in Jane's head, which is disorienting and tense in a great way.

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling, is an exceptional book!

Practical, unassuming Jane Shoringfield has done the calculations, and decided that the most secure path forward is this: a husband, in a marriage of convenience, who will allow her to remain independent and occupied with meaningful work. Her first choice, the dashing but reclusive doctor Augustine Lawrence, agrees to her proposal with only one condition: that she must never visit Lindridge Hall, his crumbling family manor outside of town.

Yet on their wedding night, an accident strands her at his door in a pitch-black rainstorm, and she finds him changed. Gone is the bold, courageous surgeon, and in his place is a terrified, paranoid man—one who cannot tell reality from nightmare, and fears Jane is an apparition, come to haunt him. By morning, Augustine is himself again, but Jane knows something is deeply wrong at Lindridge Hall, and with the man she has so hastily bound her safety to.

Set in a dark-mirror version of post-war England, Caitlin Starling crafts a new kind of gothic horror from the bones of the beloved canon. This Crimson Peak-inspired story assembles, then upends, every expectation set in place by Shirley Jackson and Rebecca, and will leave readers shaken, desperate to begin again as soon as they are finished.