What can I say about this book? I was lucky enough to receive the ARC and was very enthusiastic about it based on what the description read. I was expecting a ghost-y type gothic tale that would fill me with suspense, and perhaps also involve something going on with the animal exhibits (they come to life? they are haunted?). Sadly, it didn't deliver on any of these expectations, but sometimes it's a lesson to not have expectations and just see where the story takes you. All in all, it's very well written for a debut author and is really a great love story. ( )

4.5* ( )

Like Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, only with fragile lesbians and the pacing is off. ( )

Another RL book club selection. There is some overlap in reading tastes among the three of us, but there is no question that I read a lot more in genres like Gothic and SF than I would if left to my own devices!

This book started out strongly enough, with a description of Hetty, a young woman who has achieved a lifetime ambition of having a position at the Natural History museum given the shortage of men available to fill those positions during WWII. She is put in charge of a large collection of taxidermied mammals that are being relocated to a country manor for safekeeping during the blitz.

The manor is large (92 rooms!), and its inhabitants fill classic Gothic roles - the domineering owner, his emotionally fragile daughter, a controlling housekeeper, and tales of a ghost. As this was all set up, the book moved along with good pace.

Unfortunately it slowed down about halfway through. Certain themes were acted out repeatedly and lost steam in the process, although the romantic elements were handled quite well. I anticipated parts of the ending, but a key element blew by me although the clues were there. Props to the author for that!

The tone of the book came across as a bit odd. The language had a 19th century feel, to the extent that I had to frequently adjust my mental images of the characters to allow for women wearing trousers. There was some heavy-handed symbolism, starting with the name of the manor, and including lots of references to dead animals, stuffed or otherwise.

One final comment for listeners: the story is told from the first person perspective of the two women protagonists, and the narrator didn't seem to make any effort to distinguish their voices. I'm pretty good at picking up on sudden changes in character or location in audiobooks and haven't found the need to comment on narrator-induced confusion previously. But at times in this book I had Lucy's and Hettie's voices mixed up on a number of occasions.

The opinions of this book among the 3 members of our group varied widely, and as one of them noted, it sparked more discussion than any book we've read in a long time! ( )

This book adds history, mystery, romance, and most of all the story that the mammal collection of the British Museum was moved during WWII to the safe location of the vastly haunted, winding, rambling rooms of Lockwood country manor.

The description of the book was enthralling, and though it rambled, and was boring in places, it did what I thought it would, in that it brought back memories of the first time I visited the New York City Museum of Natural History.

Sitting in a darkened huge circular room, surrounded by stuffed, large animals, frozen in time behind glass dyaramas where the sound of those visiting this room echoed off the large walls in this section of the museum was an experience I never forgot.

My adventure to the museum was a fourth grade school trip. I lived in a small town, making this excursion to cause me to become transfixed and very afraid of the vastness of the museum. Some of these mammals I may have seen in a picture book, and so very many of them, I never saw before.

Fixed, frozen with their glass eyes seemingly staring at me, this was a very scary experience. Trough the light shining in the glass cases, the darkness of the vast room created an experience I will never forget. I was transported to their environment, and the animals looked so very real, I envisioned them coming alive when no one was there. When I closed my eyes, I imagined a loud, trumpet like blast filling the room. As a side note, this was way before the popular movie A Night at the Museum.

The setting of the book occurred during WWII, when much of the mammal collection was transported from the British Museum into a countryside, old, large manor home that was as dusty as some of the mammals. The most precious collections were moved, with their director, Hetty Cartwright to a safer environment during the Blitz.

Strange events began to occur, parts of the collection became missing or were moved to various locations in the rambling house. A huge, beautiful Jaguar is the first to be lost. He simply disappeared in the night. Then, other animals were placed in a different setting than originally placed.

As Hetty tries to find the animals missing, she is befriended by the sad, depressed daughter of the owner of the manor house.

I enjoyed the book, though I can only guardedly recommend it. ( )