The Deception of Harriet Fleet

This is a Historical Romance just as I like them. A hint of Jane Eyre, (although nothing can beat that book): a dark and dismal haunted house, a governess with a secret, a dashing young man and a family harbouring lies. And it’s also a intriguing, slow burning murder mystery.

Harriet Fleet is fleeing from Norfolk after the death of her father, to escape the greedy hands of her guardian, uncle Thomas. She takes a position under an assumed name at Teesbank Hall, the stately home of the Wainwright’s, to take care of Eleanor, the troubled 18 year old daughter.
Soon it becomes clear it is not so much a teaching position, as Eleanor already mastered more subjects than Harriet herself, but she is asked to spy on Eleanor who suffers from hysterical angry fits. A task Harriet unwillingly performs because she has no choice. The atmosphere in the house is depressing: the parents hate each other, the murder of their young son 20 years ago hangs as a dark shadow above them and the only light is Henry, the goodhearted son.

As I said, the story has a lot of Jane Eyre in it: not a mad woman in the attic, but other secrets and lies. Maybe because the story is told by a much older Harriet, who looks back on the events that the story seems a bit distant. Interesting is the way the constraints of women in the Victorian age are made shockingly clear by the author. A modern touch I really appreciated.
It lacks in some ways the passion of Brontë’s novel: Henry is no Rochester and Harriet no Jane, but the plot and mood kept my attention. So, the foundations are there. So much that I read it in one sitting until the wee hours.
I’m interested to know with what novel Helen Scarlett comes up with next.

Thank you Quercus Books and Netgalley for the ARC! I enjoyed it!

Harriet has taken a job as governess at the remote and foreboding Teesbank Hall in County Durham in the late nineteenth century because she needs to remain hidden from her uncle. She’s surprised to learn that the child she’s been hired to look after is actually an 18 year old girl. Eleanor is highly intelligent, but also very troubled and Harriet’s job is not to educate her but to watch over and contain her. Soon she finds herself caught up Eleanor’s fixation on uncovering the dark past of the Wainwright family and drawn into their treacherous past. I liked this book, it put me in mind of Victoria Holt and Mary Stewart’s Gothic novels