Synopsis

1863, Victorian England.

Susan Mottram lives an idyllic existence until her eighteenth birthday when her father’s sudden death plunges the family into penury. To support her mother and younger sister, Susan takes employment as a teacher at a remote Yorkshire boarding school, Matterdale Hall, owned by the radical Dr. Claybourn and his penny-pinching wife. Susan soon discovers that all is not as it seems. Why is little Mary so silent? What really happened to Susan’s predecessor? Is anyone safe in the school’s draughty halls?

Through a life-changing meeting with the beautiful and mysterious Cassandra, Susan begins to uncover the truth about Matterdale Hall and discovers the cruelty and love that can lie within the human heart.

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Review

It has been a little time since I have read a victorian based novel. Now I’m wondering why I waited so long! This novel was a delight and a spin you don’t see in other novels, including an LGBTQ protagonist, Susan.

Susan’s father recently passed away, and her family is basically penniless. As the oldest daughter, this forces her to find employment of some sort to help support her mother and sister. Because her father educated her well, she finds a position as a teacher in a rather mysterious manor. There are some strange happenings, and her young pupils are berated into acting properly. This goes against everything Susan believes, so you can imagine it is a bit of a battle with the lady of the house, who is also the school owner. By chance, she meets up with a young woman, Cassandra, that lives on the next property, and despite a rocky start, they become fast friends.

I have to admire Susan and the lengths she is willing to go to in order to protect her young charges. She does not believe in corporal punishment, and it is actually some words from Cassandra that alert her to issues that one of her pupils is having. Since Cassandra is deaf, that brought to light the possibility for Mary. Mary wasn’t dim-witted like the Claybourn’s claimed, she just couldn’t hear, and once she started learning sign language, many things changed.

The Claybourn family is a bit dysfunctional. While I disliked Helena, one of the daughters, because she seemed quite lazy, later explanations reversed my thoughts, and I actually felt pity for her and her situation. Marion shows potential to be likable, but it takes some time to warm up to her character. Dr. Claybourn is interesting with his mannerisms and how much he thinks he does for the afflicted in his infirmary. Mrs. Claybourn is a tyrant and appears to hold everyone hostage, whether it is with their pay, how they are treated, or her expectations. I was flabbergasted by her treatment of Susan and the others.

There is a bit of a mystery surrounding Matterdale Hall, a former teacher, and what is really going on in Dr. Claybourn’s clinic. I kept trying to unravel what I knew vs. what I assumed about the manor and its residents. I enjoyed the letters that Susan and Cassandra wrote back and forth to each other. So formal! But that is keeping with this era. I liked that while it wasn’t the norm to have same-sex relationships, I felt like it was handled well and accepted by those that knew and loved Susan and Cassandra.

While the story has its tense moments, there are just as many that are light-hearted and uplifting. I really enjoyed reading this book and hope to read more from this author.

We give this book 5 paws up.

About the Author

Marianne Ratcliffe grew up in Lincolnshire. A biochemist by training, she has always found creating new worlds and interesting characters every bit as rewarding as discoveries at a laboratory bench. She has had short stories published in literary magazines and was runner-up in the Guildford Book Festival short story competition in 2010. In 2017, redundancy spurred her to focus on creative writing, the result being The Secret of Matterdale Hall, a sapphic romance/mystery set in the Victorian era. Marianne lives in Cheshire with her wife and two dogs.

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