The Lost Ones by Anita Frank

Synopsis:

Reeling from the death of her fiancé, Stella Marcham welcomes the opportunity to stay with her pregnant sister, Madeleine, at her imposing country mansion, Greyswick – but she arrives to discover a house of unease and her sister gripped by fear and suspicion.

Before long, strange incidents begin to trouble Stella – sobbing in the night, little footsteps on the stairs – and as events escalate, she finds herself drawn to the tragic history of the house.

Aided by a wounded war veteran, Stella sets about uncovering Greyswick’s dark and terrible secrets – secrets the dead whisper from the other side…

Review:

Stella Marcham is grieving. She has seen evil in the blooded fields of the great war and that same evil has taken the love of her life. On the brink of being sent into an asylum for ‘rest’, Stella is approached by her sister’s husband Hector, asking her to keep Madeleine company in her last months of pregnancy at his home estate Greyswick. He mentions Madeleine’s unease and bad feelings about the house and hopes Stella’s company will help settle his wife back to her happy self.

How wrong he is! Stella arrives at Greyswick, excited to see her sister’s new home, happy to lend her hand and provide comfort to the one person that stood by her when she lost Gerald. But there is something wrong. With the house, the people living in it. From the first day, when she discovers a toy soldier in her bed, things grow stranger and stranger. There are secrets buried deep within the walls of the house and it is up to Stella and her unwilling maid Annie to uncover them and set them free.

Brilliant book – I’ve always loved Wilkie Collins’ Woman in White and can see clearly the inspiration here. But this novel is spookier and even tense and reading in the dark of my bedroom wasn’t the best of my ideas. The characters were very well portrayed within the time period lending an authenticity to the story. Let’s be honest, most old manor houses look haunted, so Greyswick lends a perfect hand in setting the scene. I loved the opposites of opinions and beliefs that were given to us in the characters of Annie Burrows and Tristan Sheers. The believer and the sceptic-scientist, both willing to go the distance to prove their own truths.

Bravo – love this book and will certainly look out for more books by Anita Frank. This will be in my top five books I’ve read this year. And the cover - simple beautiful.

Thank you very much to TBConFB, the author and NetGalley for this book.

Rating: 5/5

Available to pre-order from:

Amazon UK – publication date 31 October 2019

Amazon US – publication date unconfirmed