(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Rowena Crale and her family have moved from London.
They now live in a small English village in a cottage which seems to be resisting all attempts at renovation.
Walls ooze damp, stains come through layers of wallpaper, ceilings sag.
And strange noises - voices - emanate from empty rooms.
As Rowena struggles with the upheaval of builders while trying to be a dutiful wife and a good mother to her young children, her life starts to disintegrate.
And then, one by one, her daughters go missing...

Take a dash of classic horror location (haunted cottage in a remote English village - complete with ghostly noises and damp walls etc), add to that a woman who supposedly loves her 5 children but knows very little about what they are doing (not to mention she is sleeping with the hunky neighbour while the author claims she is trying to be a "dutiful wife"...) and a dash of plot threads that never seem to go anywhere, nor tie together and this is what you get...

One confusing mess of "I wanna be Shirley Jackson but have no idea how"...


Paul
ARH