#Spooktober ‘The Death Of Jane Lawrence’ by Caitlin Starling

About the book…

From the Bram Stoker-nominated author of ‘The Luminous Dead’ comes a gothic fantasy horror in an alternate Britain that will haunt you all night long.

Practical, unassuming Jane Shoringfield has done the calculations, and decided that the most secure path forward is this: a husband, in a marriage of convenience, who will allow her to remain independent and occupied with meaningful work. Her first choice, the dashing but reclusive doctor Augustine Lawrence, agrees to her proposal with only one condition: that she must never visit Lindridge Hall, his crumbling family manor outside of town.

Yet on their wedding night, an accident strands her at his door in a pitch-black rainstorm, and she finds him changed. Gone is the bold, courageous surgeon, and in his place is a terrified, paranoid man―one who cannot tell reality from nightmare, and fears Jane is an apparition, come to haunt him. By morning, Augustine is himself again, but Jane knows something is deeply wrong at Lindridge Hall, and with the man she has so hastily bound her safety to.

Huge thanks to the lovely people at Titan for my gifted review copy of ‘The Death Of Jane Lawrence’ which is out now!

So Jane Lawrence is dead-or is she?-is she dead dead or metaphorically dead and as she starts the book as Jane Shoringfield, this means she gets married and holy shit will you look at that glorious cover?!*

*This was all before I started the book and delved deep into it’s glorious gothic layers of subversion, subterfuge and wantoness.

That is , to quote my daughters, a lot.

I was sold on the notion of Rebecca crossed with Hill House ,but this book is so much more than thar.

The mysteries are teasingly stripped in front of the wary reader’s eyes, the sheer strangeness of the plot reflected in its dystopian setting of Grand Beltain, a place where religio has crumbled yet social structures stand firm. As such, a woman without a family, without a husband like Jane,must seek one out with the highest scrutiny.

And in Dr Lawrence she finds the perfect match-she can carry on with her love of numbers, be an accountant without having to account for her ambition, will kill about 50 birds with her stone of a marriage proposal to a man who needs a wife in name alone.

His family seat is where he resides,the surgery is where she will live . The children and social standing she never desired will pass her by, he will have a faithful wife , everyone is happy,yes?

Until circumstances bring them to a place where neither can escape their essential selves,magic and mayhem intrude and begin to warp the weft of reality.

A breathtaking exploration of what it means to be free and escape literal and physical oppression this is a truly wonderful book which will become and instant classic.