Bly

A well done variation on a classic ghost story

Thank you Booksprout, the publisher and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The first sentences in this book made me think of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, as it starts with a dream of the "old mansion" and our MC wandering its rooms and hallways searching for somebody. Even one of the characters is called Rebecca. But unlike in Du Maurier's novel, the ghosts at Bly are very much real and present, they are conscious energies that decide who can feel them, see them or even touch them.

Anyone who likes ghost stories has read (or at least watched!) Henry James' The turning of the Screw. In this classical gothic story, a young woman has to fight the spirits of a past governess and her lover for the soul of the two children she is responsible for. Now imagine that years upon years pass, the house is still standing, the ghosts are still haunting, and the new owner wants to sell the property. Enter Astyr, a witch with a knowledge of teas and herbs, a spiritual cleanser. Astyr Salt is young but due to some traumatic encounters with ghosts in the past, she has dropped out of college and has moved to the UK. When we encounter her she is beginning to rebuild her support system and making friends, but I got the feeling that she is fairly alone in the world. She is hired to "cleanse" the house of spirits, the only condition being an immediate start and that she stays at Bly for as long as it takes.

WHAT I LIKED:
The Ghosts: They are not entirely static entities, they still have desires, feelings. Scaring the hell out of the living and defending their turf is not their only purpose in death. Some of them communicate with Astyr only in dreams, some other she detects by their energy, or smell, some of them she can even touch. Her job is not to get rid of the spirits, but to help them coexist with the living.

Astyr: scared but determined, she goes to Bly looking for ghosts. And OMG all those teas!! And she is a cat person.

The Dreams: that is how some of the spirits communicate with Astyr and add a wonderful element of confusion, a dreamlike feeling into the story. The rooms, hallways, staircases transform during the dream and don't quite change back after she wakes.

The Other Characters: most of them feel very real, with a proper life story. From all the characters, Rebecca, James and Nolyn are the best drawn, IMHO. I would not mind sharing a cuppa or a pint with any of them. And Peter is certainly creepy enough.

The Friendship/Love Story: Just to be clear, this book is not a romance, but love is a permeating the whole story. In fact, one could claim that the hauntings at Bly are the result of a love story gone wrong. Astyr and Nolyn's possible romance is uncertain at the beginning, they move from new neighbours to a comfortable friendship very quickly but neither of them knows how to move on. I found this sort of uncertainty very refreshing. No "lovers destined by fate" here, just two people giving a chance to a maybe.

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE SO MUCH

Mr. Hellings: He came across as a bully and frankly, quite creepy. But there is no explanation whatsoever about why he is like that. His secretary Ms. Poole doesn't get much of a voice at all.

The Witch-y Stuff: Personally just not into the modern witch lore, but the descriptions are pretty detailed and easy to follow.

All in all, I enjoyed the book very much and will definitely recommend it.