September 12, 1999
The Mistress of Mellyn (Reader’s Digest Condensed Book)
Victoria Holt

A classic Gothic, one to read again on a rainy, chilly day. So much in the tradition of Jane Eyre that it’s almost a re-write: Martha, a young, poor, unmarried girl, takes a governess post at a Cornwall mansion for a handsome widower with a young daughter, and dark secrets abound about the dead wife, the handsome neighbor’s son with whom she was having an affair, etc. Naturally, Martha and the master of the house fall in love, but there’s a secret lurking in the sprawling, brooding house that could tear them apart. Very good twist at the end. I understand this was Holt’s first book under the Holt name, and that she was specifically asked to write exactly this type of story, which was gaining immense popularity at the time (1960) among female readers. I’d like to read the full version sometime, as this was the condensed version found in one of those old Reader’s Digest books, where they pack several condensed stories into one book, usually with a theme. The theme of this one is gothic mystery/romances, and The Mistress of Mellyn is one of six others in the book. ( )

Includes:
Jamaica Inn by Daphne de Maurier
Mission to Malaspiga by Evelyn Anthony
Mistress of Mellyn by Victoria Holt
The High Valley by Jessica North
Thunder Heights by Phyllis A. Whitney
Tregaron's Daughter by Madeleine Brent

This book has the stories, Tregaron's Daughter by Madeleine Brent (5 stars), Mistress of Melyn (Vicoria Holt (5 stars), Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier (4 stars), Mission to Malaspiga (1 star), The High Valley by Jessica North (3 stars), and Thunder Heights by Phylis A. Whitney (3 Stars) ( )