‘The Room In The Attic’ by Louise Douglas is an atmospheric and chilling story that grabbed me from the start. My first book by this author and not the last! Let’s check out the synopsis.
A child who does not know her name…
In 1903 fishermen find a wrecked boat containing a woman, who has been badly beaten, and a young girl. An ambulance is sent for, and the two survivors are taken to All Hallows, the imposing asylum, hidden deep on Dartmoor. The woman remains in a coma, but the little girl, Harriet, awakens and is taken to an attic room, far away from the noise of the asylum, and is put in the care of Nurse Emma Everdeen.
Two motherless boys banished to boarding school…
In 1993, All Hallows is now a boarding school. Following his mother’s death and his father’s hasty remarriage, Lewis Tyler is banished to Dartmoor, stripped of his fashionable clothes, shorn of his long hair, and left feeling more alone than ever. There he meets Isak, another lost soul, and whilst refurbishment of the dormitories is taking place, the boys are marooned up in the attic, in an old wing of the school.
Cries and calls from the past that can no longer be ignored…
All Hallows is a building full of memories, whispers, cries from the past. As Lewis and Isak learn more about the fate of Harriet, and Nurse Emma’s desperate fight to keep the little girl safe, it soon becomes clear there are ghosts who are still restless.
Are they ghosts the boys hear at night in the room above, are they the unquiet souls from the asylum still caught between the walls? And can Lewis and Isak bring peace to All Hallows before the past breaks them first…
The Room In The Attic is overflowing with mystery and so much intrigue that I could not put it down, I was that captivated that I read it way too quickly.
The characters are created so well, Louise Douglas has made them so lifelike I felt connected to them and really felt what they experienced throughout the book.
Multiple threads were interwoven so skillfully they added so much to the atmospheric feeling of the story. It was quite an emotional story too, and I felt every one of them.
A book that is perfect to settle down with on one of these dark evenings that are fast approaching that is unless you prefer this type of book in the daylight. A dark gothic read for this time of the year.
Thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources and Boldwood Books for the copy of the book.
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