Mrs England was selected by my book group as our next read. It is a Sunday Times bestseller written by a winner of the Women’s Prize Futures Award, Stacey Halls.
The Plot
‘Something’s not right here.’
I was aware of Mr Booth’s eyes on me, and he seemed to hold his breath. ‘What do you mean?’
‘In the house. With the family.’
West Yorkshire, 1904.
When newly graduated nurse Ruby May takes a position looking after the children of Charles and Lilian England, a wealthy couple from a powerful dynasty of mill owners, she hopes it will be the fresh start she needs. But as she adapts to life at the isolated Hardcastle House, it becomes clear there’s something not quite right about the beautiful, mysterious Mrs England.
Distant and withdrawn, Lilian shows little interest in her children or charming husband, and is far from the ‘angel of the house’ Ruby was expecting. As the warm, vivacious Charles welcomes Ruby into the family, a series of strange events forces her to question everything she thought she knew. Ostracised by the servants and feeling increasingly uneasy, Ruby must face her demons in order to prevent history from repeating itself. After all, there’s no such thing as the perfect family – and she should know.
Simmering with slow-burning menace, Mrs England is a portrait of an Edwardian marriage, weaving an enthralling story of men and women, power and control, courage, truth and the very darkest deception. Set against the atmospheric landscape of West Yorkshire, Stacey Halls’ third novel proves her one of the most exciting and compelling new storytellers of our times.
Review
This can be seen as a mystery book in the way that Jane Eyre slowly reveals the secrets hidden in the Rochester home. The central character of the story is not Mrs. England, but a young nurse called Ruby May who is employed by the England household.
Nurse May is a newly trained nurse who turns down the chance to work abroad with her current family. Instead accepts a job in West Yorkshire with Mr. and Mrs. England, a family that own a mill. Growing to love the three children in her care, Nurse May slowly realizes that something is wrong in the household and there are secrets she needs to unravel.
While Mr. England appears to be a doting Father, Mrs. England seems to care little for her children. The servants behave strangely towards Ruby and the locals appear to be hiding secrets from the past….and possibly the present. All in all the house, and the countryside it sits in, emit a dark, forbidding atmosphere and a sense of “weirdness”.
However, Nurse May is also keeping a dark secret of her own. Why must she only work in England? And what happened in her childhood to make her the woman she is today?
An interesting Read – Recommended
Available from City Adventurers Solve The Murder
and from Amazon
