Monday, June 14, 2021

2021/075: Daughters of the Lake -- Wendy Webb

...some stories, especially peculiar, hidden ones involving murder and mystery, have a way of bubbling to the surface, especially when wrongs need to be righted. They make themselves heard despite efforts to keep them silent. All in the proper time. [loc. 170]

Featuring some of the same characters as The Haunting of Brynn Wilder: I was in the mood for more cosy Gothic, so decided to read this next. Daughters of the Lake was published earlier, and I didn't think it was quite as coherent.

Kate Granger has retreated to her parents' house in the little town of Wharton, on Lake Superior, after her husband cheated on her. One morning she finds a dead woman washed up on the beach, with a baby in her arms. Kate knows this woman: she's been dreaming of her, dreaming of being her. But the woman's identity is a mystery, and nobody can tell how long she's been in the water.

Kate, her cousin Simon and the local police chief Nick work to uncover the secret: interspersed with their investigations are chapters telling the story of a young woman, Addie, who lived by the lake in the mid-nineteenth century. The two stories fit neatly together, though there is an unexpected twist that I felt invalidated the century-old revenge plot. I was also unconvinced by just how ready everyone in Wharton was to believe in Kate's dreams about the dead woman, and their acceptance of supernatural elements.

Plenty of ghosts, more tangible than in Brynn Wilder: plenty of kindness, very little dissent. I didn't find this as enjoyable a read as The Haunting of Brynn Wilder, but it was interesting to see the two plot lines converge, and the historical elements of the plot were distinctly Gothic and quite poignant.

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