A huge Thank You to The author, The publisher and NetGalley for providing the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
It was magnificent! I haven't read such a good book in a long time!

A wonderful debut novel of Victorian, Gothic intrigue and suspense. Lumsden does a brilliant job of mixing the Victorian and the modern for a refreshing and highly readable take on the genre. Please see my Booktube video for a more detailed review: https://youtu.be/lcOmuuhLfYo

The Secrets of Hartwood Hall, by Katie Lumsden
Rating: 4/5
Published: 28th February (pre-order now!)
This novel is gothic mystery at its very finest. Margaret, a newly widowed woman, is sent to work as a governess at an isolated country house in the West of England. The villagers say it’s a cursed place, and rumours about its Lady are rife and disturbing. Margaret is spooked from the moment she arrives, and yet her relationship with her ward forces her to remain. The house is full of secrets, and the abandoned East Wing is a constant source of unease. I loved how it was written. The descriptions of the old house are superb, and I liked how Margaret is torn between what society expects of her and what she truly wants. Her forbidden relationship with the gardener is beautifully constructed, and the twist at the end was truly shocking. I did not see it coming. Gothic mystery can be a little predictable at times, but this book was full of twists and turns. The feminist undertones were excellent too.

The Secrets of Hartwood Hall starts out very similarly in feel and story to the classic Jane Eyre novel, which is not surprising once you learn that it is the favorite novel of the author. However, once the story begins to flow, it takes off in it's own direction. For me, the story was a bit slow to get into, but once I did, I found that I couldn't put it down. There is mystery, romance, and suspense to help keep the reader engaged. This title would be a good contender for Book Clubs to discuss.

This book hit me right at the perfect time. I was having a bit of reading fatigue this week and thought it was a good time to read the e-arc of this gothic novel (thank you Penguin Random House!). It was the perfect antidote to my reading blahs.
It's 1852 and Margaret Lennox is recently widowed and broke. She's accepted a governess position for a young boy at Hartwood Hall, far away from London. Margaret arrives, and of course this place is massive, set all alone past the creepy dark woods in the English countryside.

Young Louis is a sweet boy, and Margaret immediately connects to him. If only the Hall wasn't so big, and if only there weren't weird things happening. The villagers won't go near the Hall, and Louis and his mother, Mrs. Eversham aren't welcome there. Superstitious villagers are convinced she's a witch and the Hall is haunted.

Margaret's terrible marriage still weighs on her mind, and she's convinced she somehow killed her husband. Susan, one of the hired help, is always watching Margaret, and it's pretty clear she's spying on everyone and gathering information to blackmail not only Margaret, but the whole staff. She's a nasty piece of work.

I went into this novel not knowing much at all about it, and went along for the ride. I couldn't put it down and the plot kept ramping up just enough to keep me in it. Margaret was a pretty decent character, but I was a bit annoyed at her relationship with Paul the gardener. I get why she made her decision, but I felt it was a bit cold, too. I just felt the relationship was a bit clunky in some spots. I liked all the characters and how Margaret's relationships with all of them evolved.

One thing I would have liked is an epilogue to see where the characters were a year later. Otherwise, a solid story that I enjoyed quite a bit.

Rating: 4/6 for a gothic tale with tones of Jane Eyre (the book features in the plot), strong female characters, and families can be shaped by circumstance, friendship, and love.

An atmospheric gothic mystery with plenty of flickering lights and ghostly apparitions. It was interesting enough to keep me reading but it did drag in parts. Also, I wasn't happy with the ending. Everything happens really quickly and one character deserved more attention rather than just being shuffled off. Also, some of the characters exhibited 21st century sensibilities that didn't fit the time period.

So many secrets in this twisty and entertaining gothic novel - with a big surprise or two at the end! Margaret Lennox, a new widow, is desperate for a governess position after her clergyman husband died without leaving her anything so she's thrilled to get the job with Mrs. Eversham caring for Louis. But there's something not quite right about Hartwood Hall, what with half of it boarded up and the people of the village (as well as the servants) all proclaiming there's a ghost. Louis is a good, if immature boy but the arrival of a letter threatens Margaret's peace just as she begins a cautious relationship with Paul, the gardener and makes a friend in the vicar's wife. Why is she required to always keep Louis in her sight? Where does Mrs. Eversham go periodically and what happened to her daughter? Measles upends the household, eliminating one threat but raising another. No spoilers from me! Lumsden has done an excellent job with the atmospherics and I liked the Jane Eyre vibes (make sure you read her thanks to her husband at the end.). Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I found myself wrapped up in this one- great storytelling makes for a great read.

The Secrets of Hartwood Hall is a good gothic novel. It has a delightfully spooky atmosphere. The characters who live at Hartwood Hall all have their secrets which are slowly revealed. I wish the author had spent more time in the beginning exploring Margaret's history prior to arriving at Hartwood Hall. It would have helped me understand and connect with her character. I'm torn between giving a 3 or 4 star review. I decided on 4 stars because all the gothic elements are there.

It was the cover that caught my eyes, with the promise of a Jane Eyre like atmosphere.
And it did deliver.
Quickly we are sucked into the pages, following Margaret’s thoughts and with she trying to unravel what the walls and shadows know.
As the history of the people she has come to work for and live with is more shades of darkness than light, her own past comes to knock.

This book delivers a gripping tale of the mistakes we make, the sad reality of the few choices women had and some they might make with or without reason.
The narrative is told from Margaret’s point of view, with her own agenda and past, she is trying to rebuilt herself, and with her new charge, it should have been easy if not for their surrounding, full of whispers, silences and unsettling servants.
Her one light outside Louis, her pupil is Paul, the gardener. A young man who is everything she could have dreamed for a lover, the opposite of her late spouse.

The romance reader in me was shooting at Margaret when she decided her freedom was to come with a price, but Paul was not Richard. Yet she did not give him any choice, opting alone without leaving him any voice.

Everything is finally solved in the last few pages, as they all band together to confront the ghost in the closet.
It is not the ending I would have chosen, Wuthering Heights is not my favorite Brontë sisters’ novel, I do prefer to it, Jane Eyre.
4 stars

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 behind closed door lovemaking scenes

I have been granted an advance copy by the publisher, here is my true and unbiased opinion.

SOO good. I love atmospheric novels, especially in this time period. This was the perfect setting and I loved every second of it.

The Secrets of Hartwood Hall is an atmospheric gothic mystery about a recently widowed governess who takes a position at the mysterious Hartwood Hall, where she struggles to hold on to her own secrets while being drawn into the secrets of all the people around her. I loved our protagonist Margaret's relationship with her young charge Louis. The unraveling of the household secrets felt satisfyingly tense and believable. My one major critique is that the love interest is a bit of a flat character, but as this is not a romance, I didn't feel like my enjoyment suffered with my lack of investment in his character.

The Secrets of Hartwood Hall takes place at an isolated country house that is rumored to be haunted. I was unable to put this book down! This atmospheric read has it all--rumors of ghosts, secrets revealed, and romance. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys any of those elements.

A haunting story just like Rebecca and Jane Eyre !

This was really an amazing reading. I loved the atmosphere, it really reminded me of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, a haunted place with a lot of strange characters and a lot of secrets that you want to unravel. This was so well done, the writing is sophisticated, the plot is well built and everything falls into place.

Now the only thing that frustrated me was the way the story ended of Paul and because I'm a nostalgic person, what happens to Hartwood Hall but it makes sense so what can I say?

Definitely read this if you're a fan of victorian gothic novels, it's as good as a classic!

Thank you to Katie Lumsden, Penguin Group/Dutton, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review"


"Of course I did not believe the house was cursed - but when people feared a place, there was usually a reason." Margaret Lennox, The Secrets of Hartwood Hall.

Margaret Lennox is a young widow, with some mystery regarding her husband’s death and whether he was poisoned or not. She has been taken out of his will and must secure employment in order to live. It is 1852 and everything is done by word of mouth. She hears of a position at Hartwood Hall, as a governess to young Louis. Worried that her deafness in one ear will prevent her from securing this position, she is delighted when Mrs. Eversham offers her the job.

When she arrives at Hartwood Hall, she finds an odd cast of characters including maids who believe the house is haunted, Louis, who has never had a governess and has been sheltered his entire life, and Susan, a maid who blackmails Margaret for money. There is something not right about the dilapidated mansion, with half of it boarded off and instructions to never enter the East wing. Even she sees figures that don’t belong there and hears strange noises in the night. The first half of the book is all about setting the characters and layout up. When Margaret meets the gardener, Paul, she is instantly attracted to him and they begin an intimate affair almost immediately. This seems out of character for a governess in 1852, who had recently been widowed several weeks before. Mrs. Eversham, her boss, mostly keeps to herself in her room but is often traveling. Even Louis seems very sad. It doesn’t take her long to feel like everyone is hiding something.

The Secrets of Hartwood Hall is an easy book to read. It is fun to dive into the details of life in 1852. Margaret is an interesting character who makes interesting choices. Her affair with the Gardener seems odd and her dismissal of him seems even more strange, because of her reasoning. She doesn’t want to get married again because she had a terrible first marriage. It seems to be a strong feeling that we don’t even see until the end of the book. We know she has had a hard life and felt owned by her late husband, but her feelings seemed to come out of nowhere and when confronted with the perfect life with Paul, the gardener, it made no sense for her to turn it down. Maybe now in the 2000s but not in 1852. It made for an interesting ending and not one I saw coming.

A fun, gothic mystery.

Didn't see that twist coming for some reason, which I always love, but saying anything about it would spoil the fun.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

The Secrets of Hartwood Hall, a debut novel by Katie Lumsden, is historical fiction written in the tradition of gothic classics such as Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights. It follows a woman named Margaret Lennox, recently widowed and running from a shadowy past, as she takes a position as a governess at a dilapidated mansion--Hartwood Hall--in an isolated town. As Margaret gets acclimated to her new role and grows fond of her charge, she slowly comes to realize that Hartford Hall holds many secrets, some of which may be dangerous.

One of the strongest aspects of The Secrets of Hartwood Hall is the setting. Atmospheric and eerie, the descriptions of the mansion itself, the surrounding grounds, and the small, superstitious town that has disavowed Hartwood Hall altogether really set the stage for gothic novel goodness. You immediately imagine a dark, misty place where one could accidentally mistake something benign for something sinister--whether it be through sight or sound. Paired with this, the novel wastes no time setting up many mysteries which draw the reader in: why are the townspeople afraid of Hartwood Hall? What is Margaret running from? Why is the mistress of the hall so anxious? With all of these questions, the reader is propelled to keep reading to find the answers. Luckily, the writing is also strong enough so flipping the pages is far from a hardship.

Unfortunately, however, The Secrets of Hartwood Hall suffers from some issues that ultimately are never resolved. The biggest issue would be Margaret's characterization. While I was curious about Margaret's past, I started to find that I did not care about her, mostly because I did not understand her. The inconsistencies in her character are small, but they are additive enough to become distracting. Some of Margaret's actions feel as if they occur more for plot progression rather than from a place of natural character progression. While a character's decision can move a plot forward, I think it's important for the reader to believe that the character in question would actually *make* that decision. Also, the pace starts to slow down during the middle, and while eventually it does pick up again, the resolution of the novel unfortunately comes off more chaotic than satisfying.

In the end, I give The Secrets of Hartwood Hall three out of five stars. While it has its problems, I think it is a strong debut novel that delivers on its promise of gothic, Victorian fun. If you like a medium-paced story with creepy houses, closed off wings, ghost sightings (imagined or not), forbidden romantic subplots and the like, I would say give The Secrets of Hartwood Hall a shot. Best read in the evening with a cup of Earl Grey, of course.

Note: I would like to thank Penguin Group Dutton and Netgalley for providing an advanced reader's copy for me to review.

Thank you, Netgalley and Dutton, an imprint of Peguin Random House LLC, for providing me an ARC copy of "Secrets of Hartwood Hall" by Katie Lumsden. This is a gothic thriller that will woo the fans of victorian Gothic stories. Perfect for the genre it is written for, I loved nearly every single thing about this book. Within a few pages, I knew it was a book i would really enjoy. Well written and easy to read, you follow a story about a recently widowed Mrs. Lennox, who takes up a job as a governess at Hartwood Hall. Hired by a Mrs. Eversham, for her young, loveable son Louis, she is eager to do well in her new position. However the family is very estranged from the village and dark rumors and suspicion spread amongst the locals, and our main character starts to get the feeling that all is not quite normal at Hartwood Hall and there are many and large secrets to uncover. Definitely recommend for those who enjoyed Jane Eyre.

I don't have anything new to say about The Secrets of Hartwood Hall that hasn't been covered by multiple reviewers already. The book was fine. It was plenty 'atmospheric'. Unfortunately, I can't share my biggest complaint with the book/main character without spoilers. I can say that the 'mysteries'/suspense could have been resolved rather quickly if the main character had just once asked someone a straight-forward question, instead of trying to be subtle with her inquiries. Some plot twists were quite predictable, some kind of came out of nowhere. The story seemed to progress a bit slowly, then suddenly sped up at the (kind of bonkers) end.

The Secrets of Hartwood Hall is an atmospheric and compelling gothic mystery.

Margaret Lennox, recently widowed, has taken up a governess position at Heartwood Hall under the employ of Mrs. Eversham. Margaret quickly learns that the villagers avoid the house and its inhabitants. There are whispers that the house is cursed.

Margaret doesn’t believe in such superstitions, but she can’t deny the noises she hears at night, nor the flashes of something seen and then gone. However, she tries to get on with her work teaching Louis, her ten-year-old charge, who has immediately captured her heart.

But the past catches up with Margaret, and it becomes impossible to ignore the strange occurrences in the house.

This gothic tale is entirely from Margaret’s pov. It reminded me a bit of The Silent Companion and Jane Eyre. The characters were all well-developed, whether they were lovable or not-so-lovable. The eerie setting rounded out the gothic feel as well.

I thought it was going in one direction and was surprised when it didn’t. Perhaps if I had tried to work everything out, I would have guessed the twist, but I just sat back and enjoyed the journey.

There is also deaf representation. The main character is deaf in one ear, and it seems to be presented realistically without being a plot device.

Really my only criticism is that one of the characters allowed themselves to be gaslit so easily. They went from an intelligent, rational person to doubting what was right in front of them.

I’d highly recommend this book if you enjoy dark gothic tales. I am excited for future books by this author.

Thank you to Dutton for providing an arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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