Kate Riordan’s 2015 novel The Girl in the Photograph is one of many to be compared to the Daphne du Maurier classic Rebecca, but apart from being set in a country house and having a few Gothic undertones, I couldn’t see many similarities. It is, however, an interesting read in its own right, exploring some of the social issues faced by women who lived during less enlightened time periods.

This is a dual-timeline novel, but unlike most, which have one thread set in the present and the other in the past, both narratives in this book are historical. In 1932, we meet Alice Eveleigh, a young woman of twenty-two who lives with her parents and works in an office as a junior typist. With many of her friends becoming engaged, Alice is worried that she will be ‘left on the shelf’, so she is flattered when the new accountant at work, a handsome older man, begins an affair with her. Unfortunately, he is already married and when she inevitably finds herself pregnant, he refuses to leave his wife for her. On discovering what has happened, Alice’s mother quickly packs her off to stay with an old friend at remote Fiercombe Manor where she can give birth away from prying eyes and have the baby adopted.

After arriving at Fiercombe Manor, Alice becomes intrigued by hints of the house’s tragic past, picking up snippets of information about Elizabeth Stanton, whose husband Edward was the Manor’s previous owner. Alice attempts to learn more about Elizabeth from Mrs Jelphs, the housekeeper, but it seems that she is reluctant to talk. Not ready to give up, Alice finds Elizabeth’s diary and gradually her secrets begin to be revealed.

Elizabeth’s story, set in 1898, unfolds alongside Alice’s in alternating chapters, allowing us to see parallels between the lives of the two women. Like Alice, Elizabeth is expecting a baby; unlike Alice, she has a husband, but she still feels very alone. Edward is controlling and distrustful and they don’t have a close or loving relationship, but as Elizabeth’s narrative progresses we begin to wonder whether she is really the most reliable of narrators and whether something could have happened to cause Edward to turn against her.

The Girl in the Photograph is a beautifully written novel, with lovely, vivid descriptions of the old house surrounded by yew trees, the formal gardens and terraces, and the views of rolling meadows and setting suns. Riordan creates an eerie atmosphere, with some very subtle ghostly/supernatural elements. However, I found the book very slow and unnecessarily long – I felt that some of Alice’s chapters could probably have been left out without affecting the overall story too much. Still, the novel offers some fascinating insights into what it was like to be a pregnant woman in the 1930s or the 1890s. Attitudes of society towards unmarried mothers, the challenges of postnatal depression and ‘puerperal insanity’, and the general lack of understanding of women’s mental health issues are some of the subjects Riordan touches upon.

Although I felt that this book didn’t have much, apart from the quality of the writing, to set it apart from others of this type, I thought it was still a worthwhile read. I see Kate Riordan has written several other novels which all sound interesting too.

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

Summer, 1933. Alice Eveleigh has arrived at Fiercombe Manor in disgrace. Hiding her shame in the beautiful yet isolated house, in the care of housekeeper, Mrs Jelphs, Alice begins to sense that something isn't quite right. And that she is being watched.
There are secrets at Fiercombe that those who remain there are determined to keep. Tragedy haunts the empty rooms and traces of the previous occupant, Elizabeth Stanton, are everywhere. And Alice discovers Elizabeth's life eerily mirrors the path she herself is on. . .
The past is set to repeat its sorrows, with devastating consequences.

I seem to have read a few of these of late...and this one certainly wasn't the worst of them.

Two parallel time periods - one in the late 1800's and the other in the 1930's. Two parallel stories - the first being what is happening to Alice and, secondly, how does it relate to what happened to Elizabeth 40 years before?

There was enough in this book to get me through to the end (although it was a near-thing during the middle third of the book - I was very close to giving up) and some of the mystery was quite interesting, there just wasn't enough in it to make me rave about it. 3 stars means "Good" - and that is what this book was. Good.


Paul
ARH

It is 1932 and when Alice finds herself unmarried and pregnant, she is sent on a long visit to Fiercombe Manor in the Cotswolds, a lonely mansion in the bottom of a remote valley, where the housekeeper, Mrs Jelphs is an old friend of her mothers. Under the pretence of being widowed she is to stay there until the birth of her child and then return to London. Alice is immediately drawn to Fiercombe in this atmospheric and haunting read. In particular she feels compelled to learn about its history, and especially that of the mysterious and enigmatic Elizabeth Stanton – a woman who lived there at the end of the 19th century and whose fate is shrouded in mystery. Mrs Jelphs certainly knows what happened but is reluctant to reveal her knowledge.

The story is told from the viewpoints of both Alice and Elizabeth. The story is very slow moving and very descriptive, the author really does instil the feeling of a long hot sticky summer on the reader. I did think sometimes it was a bit too descriptive, getting in the way of the story somewhat. I thought at one point that the story was going to be much more ghostly than it actually turned out to be, the tale didn’t really develop along those lines, just hinted at it now and again. What it does turn out to be is a very good relating of mental health issues in the late 19th century – I felt that aspect of the story to be really well done and riveting. On the whole I did enjoy the read, although would have preferred it to be a bit more fast moving and a touch more haunting. Many thanks to the publishers for the review copy.