The last heir to Blackwood Library

The last heir to Blackwood Library

Hester Fox

Book - 2023

"With the stroke of a pen, twenty-three-year-old Ivy Radcliffe becomes Lady Hayworth, owner of a sprawling estate on the Yorkshire moors. Ivy has never heard of Blackwood Abbey, or of the ancient bloodline from which she's descended. With nothing to keep her in London since losing her brother in the Great War, she warily makes her way to her new home. The abbey is foreboding, the servants reserved and suspicious. But there is a treasure waiting behind locked doors: a magnificent library. Despite cryptic warnings from the staff, Ivy feels irresistibly drawn to its dusty shelves, where familiar works mingle with strange, esoteric texts. And she senses something else in the library too, a presence that seems to have a will of its own.... Rumors swirl in the village about the abbey's previous owners, about ghosts and curses, and an enigmatic manuscript at the center of it all. And as events grow more sinister, it will be up to Ivy to uncover the library's mysteries in order to reclaim her own story--before it vanishes forever"--

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Subjects
Libraries > Fiction.
Manuscripts > Fiction.
Inheritance and succession > Fiction.
Haunted places > Fiction.
Nineteen twenties > Fiction.
Yorkshire (England) > Fiction.
Gothic fiction.
Historical fiction.
Novels.
Genres
Gothic fiction
Historical fiction
Novels
Published
Toronto, Ontario, Canada : Graydon House [2023]
Language
English
Main Author
Hester Fox (author)
Physical Description
316 pages ; 24 cm
ISBN
9781525819568
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

Ivy, orphaned and near destitute from her losses in WWI and its aftermath, finds herself heiress to a great title and estate. She is whisked away to the wilds of Yorkshire with hardly a blink or a probing question. The house is forbidding, as are the servants. How could she possibly belong there? The library, locked away, is the saving grace--or so she thinks. Bizarre things happen as she loans out some of the books, and she feels her memory turning to mush. She is courted by a handsome young lord: friend or enemy, she can't tell. It becomes obvious that the library is more than a room with books, it is an entity. Is it something to be embraced or feared? She is told the legends again and again but forgets what she has learned. There is great danger, some romance, and ultimately, questions are answered. Combining history, the occult, human greed, and a touch of feminism, this is a fine addition to the gothic genre.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

For this atmospheric historical fantasy, Fox (A Lullaby for Witches) blends the paranormal, light romance, and faintly gothic sensibilities. In 1927 London, orphan Ivy Radcliffe, daughter of an American socialite and a British scholar, is shocked to be named the heir of a Yorkshire estate, Blackwood Abbey, a grand, albeit dilapidated, manor complete with an aloof staff and the library of Ivy's dreams. Books have always been her passion, and the library provides a welcome refuge from her new circumstances -- including a very insistent suitor, Sir Arthur Mabry, who shares her literary love, though is perhaps a bit more interested in her library than he is the woman who owns it. Indeed, the library guards a secret, and Ivy soon finds herself forgetting conversations and losing time, a fact that becomes especially apparent around broodingly handsome chauffeur, Ralph. Immersive historical detail and a gripping, intricate plot combine to plunge readers headlong into a rags-to-riches tale laced with betrayal and intrigue. This is a treat for bibliophiles. Agent: Jane Dystel, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Apr.)

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