#BlogTour ‘Mrs England’ by Stacey Halls

About the book…

Mrs England is a gripping feminist mystery where a nanny must travel to Yorkshire to a grand house filled with secrets. For there’s no such thing as the perfect family…

‘Something’s not right here.’
I was aware of Mr Booth’s eyes on me, and he seemed to hold his breath. ‘What do you mean?’
‘In the house. With the family.’

West Yorkshire, 1904. When newly graduated nurse Ruby May takes a position looking after the children of Charles and Lilian England, a wealthy couple from a powerful dynasty of mill owners, she hopes it will be the fresh start she needs. But as she adapts to life at the isolated Hardcastle House, it becomes clear there’s something not quite right about the beautiful, mysterious Mrs England.

Distant and withdrawn, Lilian shows little interest in her children or charming husband, and is far from the ‘angel of the house’ Ruby was expecting. As the warm, vivacious Charles welcomes Ruby into the family, a series of strange events forces her to question everything she thought she knew. Ostracised by the servants and feeling increasingly uneasy, Ruby must face her demons in order to prevent history from repeating itself. After all, there’s no such thing as the perfect family – and she should know.

Simmering with slow-burning menace, ‘Mrs England’ is a portrait of an Edwardian marriage, weaving an enthralling story of men and women, power and control, courage, truth and the very darkest deception. Set against the atmospheric West Yorkshire landscape, Stacey Halls’ third novel proves her one of the most exciting and compelling new storytellers of our times.

Published today by Zaffre books, I am extremely grateful to both them and Tracy Fenton of Compulsive Readers for the blog tour invite and gifted e-book review copy of ‘Mrs England’

And yes, for those who stuck with Stacy through the storming debut, to that so called notorious ‘second book’, this third one is absolutely on a par with the others as principle protagonist , Nurse May, trained in Norland, travelled to Yorkshire, takes on the offspring of a mill factory owner.

Having grown up with younger siblings, becoming a nanny at this new and exclusive insittue which focusses on the emotional and physical nourishment and building of the next generation is something that May is suitably proud of, having gained a scholarship to study there and gained impeccable feedback on her conduct.

However, with her initial family to whom she has been assigned moving away to Chicago, May has to make a stand for reasons she does not wish to go into. And so, the reader’s emotional radar engages and starts moving at this-after all the trouble she has gone to to become a stalwart young woman, she is about to give it all up to head to ….Yorkshire?

This goes through her mind on a loop as she travels north from London, and meets the most unexpected family.

Mrs England, the daughter of a very well off family, the only girl amongst 3 boys, has 4 children with whom she is tangentially involved, their upbringing being the sole responsibility on ‘Nanny Nangle’, Mr England’s childhood nanny.

Mr England himself appears to be more ‘hands on’ than May is used to-her first person narrative allows such deep and wonderful insights into a woman almost ‘out of time’, in  that she is unashamedly focussing on the education of both her girl charges as well as the boys. Her focus on the minds of the children as well their physical health is a shock to a household which is used to running as it has always done.

However, on meeting the boy’s tutor, Mr Booth, she receives this ominous warning-

All happy families are alike;each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”

And again, that disquieting feeling rises up as insiduously as the fog which creeps into the England home and discolours the wallpaper-what is the secret at the heart of this rather unusual family?

The two female leads are quite extraordinary-even though we only see Lillian through Ruby’s eyes, we get a very strong sense of her characters and a perception that they are played as opposites. This can be seen by the reflection of their names: Lillian as white, ethereal and fragile whilst Ruby is hard, vibrant, and absolutely coloured in shades of red.

The dark undertones of the tale are set by Ruby who refuses to talk about her family yet confides to the reader that the are the reason she cannot take a position with a family which travels. And in Lillian, we see from how her family treats her that she is seen as inconsequential, she doesn’t even bear the family Greatrex name. They seem distant and cold, not loving but scornful and dismissive.

One hand has this wife who appears adored by her family yet rarely interacts with them, and on the other,a young woman whose family are her foundation but will not discuss them. Both are engaged in the business of producing and caring for the children in their charge, yet neither supports what would be considered a ‘traditional’ family unit.

The historical detail is rich, and the social detail even more so-as a modern parent, the idea of out sourcing your childcare and having, essentially a complete stranger in your house who presents you with said offspring once a day seems…dissociative and alienating.

And yet, alienation is brought up by Charles when he first meets and talks to Ruby-she explains her child care philosophy and he comments that she is an alienist.

The arrival of Ruby and her highly skilled ways not only brushes through the house, and makes it a family home, it is the catalyst for a deeply gothic tale with an air of both Rebecca and Jane Eyre. I cannot imagine a more intoxicating combination, the creeping undertones of dread shot through with the social and societal mores of the age, all held beneath the umbrella of the haunting prologue(which will genuinely haunt you!) creates a deliciously dark and beguiling novel with characters that you will never forget.

Stacy Halls is a writer who goes from strength to strength. I needed a proper lie down after each of her books, and after this one, I took the dog on the longest walk in the rain, to try and work through the modern gothic masterpiece I had just finished. It’s a properly dark and deeply feminist take on the household structure of the early twentieth century and I am thinking of booking a holiday to cope with her fourth novel.

About the author…

Stacey Halls grew up in Rossendale, Lancashire, as the daughter of market traders. She has always been fascinated by the Pendle witches.