August 8, 2022
Johnson (The Sea Gate) delivers an engrossing gothic tale of family secrets, scandals, and ancient mysteries in a small Cornish village in 1954. When Londoner Mila Prusik, 26, discovers her husband’s betrayal, her mother, Magda, pressures Mila to leave him. The two women move with Mila’s five-year-old daughter, Janey, to a weathered beach house in White Cove. Though once a setting for posh gatherings before WWII, the house took on a reputation of harboring an evil force after the previous owners disappeared. Magda, vain and manipulative, torments Mila for her failed marriage; later, Magda reveals secrets from her past to Mila, which explains some of her hostility. Magda is also cruel to Janey, a clever child, whose toy rabbit is a proxy for Janey’s fanciful visions. With the help of handyman Jack Lord, Magda begins returning the house to its former opulence, and invites the village to its grand opening on New Year’s Eve. Johnson uses the party to revisit another New Year’s Eve when a tragedy occurred in Jack’s childhood, just as Mila and Jack are beginning a relationship. Though the supernatural elements involving Janey feel a bit overdone, there are plenty of savory atmospheric details, and Magda’s and Jack’s confessions hit hard. For the most part, Johnson gets the job done.
Starred review from September 1, 2022
Johnson's (The Tenth Gift; The Sea Gate) writing is deliberate and lyrical in this novel about mothers and daughters that also speaks to readers yearning for connection and struggling with feelings of displacement. It's 1954, and Mila and her five-year-old daughter Janey are looking for a fresh start. After a disastrous and humiliating breakup with Janey's father, Mila, her mother Magdalena, and Janey relocate from London to the western reaches of Cornwall in the White Valley, where a large house, abandoned since the war, will be their new project. Magda has her heart set on turning it into a grand guest house by the sea, no matter the unsettling local rumors about the property. Mila feels trapped between her mother's increasing demands and her inclination to nurture her daughter's growing sense of self as well as her own. Janey's vivid imagination, her connection to her stuffed rabbit, and local lore about the power of the natural world all coalesce to illuminate the power of place and history. VERDICT A refreshing and comforting read for fans of Alice Hoffman and V. E. Schwab. Gorgeous eco-supernatural elements make hauntings attractive.--Julie Kane
Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
September 1, 2022
In 1954, Mila, along with her mother, Magda, and Mila's young daughter, Jane, move to the coast of Cornwall, hoping to restore the house at White Cove to its former glory as a party venue. Mila is still stinging from a bad breakup, but Magda is determined to make it work, and Jane is enchanted by the magic of the nature around her. They meet Jack Lord, a man seemingly without a past, who helps them navigate their relationship with the local contractor and pitches in on the renovations. But White Cove is full of secrets, and some locals, including the sanctimonious local vicar, think the house should be left alone. As Magda and Mila butt heads, Jane starts acting strangely, insisting her stuffed rabbit is alive. And who is the mysterious White Lady locals warned them of? A home renovation story with a Gothic flair, Johnson's latest (after The Sea Gate, 2020) offers suspense, historical drama, and a hint of romance. Fans of Kate Morton's The Forgotten Garden (2009) will be drawn in here.
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