Fiercombe Manor: A Novel

I really enjoyed reading this book! I almost chose another book because I wasn't sure I would enjoy this one ... there seemed to be too much description by the author ... I usually like the way a tale is told to reveal important information about characters, etc. But the author did a great job telling this tale and I fell quickly and easily into the story and couldn't put it down!

I love nothing better than a book that offers me an old manor house, a diary, and plenty of secrets and that’s just what I got with Fiercombe Manor by Kate Riordan.It’s 1933 when we meet twenty-two year old Alice who has disgraced her family and been sent to live at Fiercombe Manor until she births her baby. The owners Lord and Lady Stanton are not living there at the moment and have given her leave to stay there with Mrs. Jelphs, an old friend of her mothers, and the staff. Even as she is approaching Fiercombe Manor Alice feels a strange connection to the place. She feels that something has happened here but she doesn’t know what. It isn’t long though before she discovers that thirty years ago another woman lived there. It was Elizabeth Stanton and she too was expecting a child just like Alice. As Alice begins to uncover the mysteries behind Elizabeth, her husband Edward, and their daughter Isabel she finds more and more questions are raised. What exactly was wrong with Elizabeth? What happened to Elizabeth and her daughter Isabel? And even more puzzling is the housekeeper Mrs. Jelphs. Alice is sure she is hiding something, but what? There are also rumors that the valley is tainted; that children born there suffer a bad fate. All of this has Alice in a turmoil? Is she safe there? Is her baby?The story alternates between Alice’s story and Elizabeth’s and their lives are surprisingly similar. Both women are pregnant, both are living under the rules of society at the time, and both feel very much alone. The author relates many of the issues that women had with pregnancy and their rights and she also touches on postnatal depression and how it was dealt with at that time in history. I knew quite a bit about that but it was interesting nonetheless.The book is lengthy at 400 pages but that’s one of the things I liked about it. I like stories that unfold slowly especially if they are good and Fiercombe Manor is. I would recommend this book for those who enjoy gothic tales or historical fiction. I really enjoyed it!

I've never read anything by Kate Riordan before, so went into this story with no expectations. Fiercombe Manor was a very pleasant surprise. The prose is beautiful and evocative; it created a feeling of immense suspense and built on the isolation of the characters chapter by chapter drawing the reader into the melancholy microcosm of life in the valley. The events did not move quickly, but the story was well thought out and not easily predictable. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys gothic suspense.

Started out good but got too long and drawn out in the middle. I ended up skipping ahead. It's not a paranormal type book, but would have made it more interesting if it went that way. Overall good but not great.

I liked Fiercombe Manor enough to keep reading, but some parts were boring enough that I sped- read thru them. There was a lot about post-partum depression from the professional position that was around in 1898. Women were hysterical and easily sent into mania, especially if they just had a baby. They were kept in bed with no mental distractions, etc. and often abused in mental hospitals. There was no consideration that all they needed was love and some attention. OK- that part I didn't like. I liked the characters, Alice and Elizabeth, but after reading the whole book and pondering over their connection-- darned if I could find any. Alice had an active imagination and spent most of her time hunting for info on Elizabeth, who was long dead. Alice spent her time creeping thru long hallways, going thru papers and furniture, going places on the grounds where Elizabeth had been. She was obsessed with Elizabeth but at the end, the connection between them was paper thin. The only thing that might have connected them was they both had pregnancies and Alice's grandmother knew the present maid, Edith. However, even at the end, Alice was still believing there was a connection. We, the reader, were also led to believe there was a connection, but what I think is--that was a way to keep us reading. There just wasn't anything out of the ordinary, and nothing that would not have been possible with any two women who had unhappy pregnancies.

A good read. No intense detail, just gentle characters that work well. It kept my interest although not so gripping that I couldn't put it down. It was a good story well told that brought you back to see how it would end.

I loved this book and could put it down from about halfway through. Alice comes to Fiercomb as an unwed, pregnant woman. She becomes enthralled in the lives of the family who lived there before the current owners. The chapters alternate between Alice and the previous woman, Elizabeth. As Alice finds out what happened, so does the reader, through Elizabeth's eyes. Well written, with well developed characters and a mystery that will keep you reading into the night.

The story held some of the secrets until the end. I like that in a book the story is written very well and I could hardly wait to find out what happened to Elizabeth and Isabel. Describing what it was like back in the early 1900's about the disgrace of having a child out of wedlock or to even be able to have a job. A book well deserved of a 5 star.