Review: Victorian Romance With A Mystery
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 14, 2013
At the beginning of this story we are made aware that although Melanie obtains a housekeeping post in a remote country house in Northumbria, she has a secret - in fact several. She has left an abusive husband and carries the mark of their relationship on her face, though she doesn't brood on the past or tell us how this happened.What we do know is that she is also an aristocrat and yet she is content to wash her taciturn employer's clothes, cook his meals, clean his house and be a governess to his daughter as an `invisible' servant rather than endure her former life.Jarrow too has something hidden, maybe in his past, but most certainly his present, which is alluded to but not explained and when Melanie discovers what it is, she fears for his future.Jen Black's characters are beautifully crafted, and her air of mystery pervades the entire book making it impossible to put down. There are no wilting virgins in this novel, both the main characters are grown-ups with tragedies they have learned to overcome and then to live with, so when they come together at the end we cannot help feel they deserve their happiness.