Mrs England by Stacey Halls
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5 Stars
This was my first audio using the Borrow Box app… which is a free ebook and audiobook app for anyone with a membership to the London Library Consortium. Look into this, if you’re a library member in and around London. It’s Free!
This is my first Stacey Halls novel too, but it certainly will not be my last. I love a well written historical fiction and very much enjoyed Halls’ atmospheric writing. The plot is simmering with slow-burn menace and set against the picturesque West Yorkshire landscape. Mrs England is a tale of deception, control and trauma.
When the nurse Ruby May of ‘The Norland Institute’ takes a position caring for the four children of Charles and Lillian England, she soon realises this is not the household she would have expected. Her charming and engaging master and her beautiful but withdrawn mistress are unconventional at best, but no family is perfect, a fact Ruby is very aware of.
‘Something’s not right here… In the house. With the family.’
There is a wonderful gothic element to this story and you cannot help but think of novels such as Jane Eyre and Rebecca while reading. However, I think Hardcastle House, where the England’s reside lacks that eerie feeling that these novels tend to do so well.
I found myself trusting our narrator and protagonist Ruby, but I did question her ability to see the truth, whether that be due to her naivety or the long term effects of childhood trauma, both of which were true to the form of her character.
I would highly recommend this book to any historical fiction fan. I think the enjoyment of this book is found in its subtleties, so if you’re looking for the big twists, this is not the one for you. I am sure that my experience was helped along by the fact that this particular audio version was beautifully narrated by Imogen Wilde, her performance was so easy to listen to.
Have you tried Borrow Box yet?
Have you read any of Stacey Halls Novels?
Which one should I read next?
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