Reviewer: Amy Lignor
Title: The Lantern
Author: Deborah Lawrenson
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN-13: 978-1-59448-518-3
Release Date: August 2011
Genre/Sub-genre: General Fiction
Year/Setting: Present Day & 1800’s/France
Overall Rating: 4.0
Sexual Content Rating: Sensual/Sexual
Language (Profanity/Slang) Content Rating: None
Violent Content Rating: Minimal/Moderate
Deborah's Website/Blog: www.deborah-lawrenson.co.uk
Dear Readers:
This startling discovery (for me) is literally a book of poetry, wrapped in a stellar romance, wrapped in a suspense thriller. This author has done a magnificent job of combining each and every one of those facets together in order to create a stunning novel that readers will not want to put down. In fact, all they’ll want to do is get on a plane and buy their own haunting farmhouse in Provence, France.
Let me explain… Here is a house that the characters (and the author) covet beyond belief. The house is Les Genevriers. This old home that has been around for decades sits amidst gardens that fill the night with the scents of lavender, jasmine, pinewood from the armoire in the bedroom, the deep smell of moss on the outside titles, old burnt embers from a past fire, mixing with the sultry fragrance of vanilla with rose. This house is a utopia, and the scents bring images - good and harsh - to mind as one sits in the gardens and dreams.
Eve is a young woman who worked as a translator, and Dom is an older man who writes music. Both of these souls were experiencing a walk through the Labyrinth of the Five Senses when they crossed each other’s path and embarked on a whirlwind romance that brought them to the doors of Les Genevriers, and they made it their home.
Life is good there, yet Dom seems to be getting more and more distant as time passes. Eve is a bit worried, especially considering that his ex, Rachel, is still someone who bothers Dom such a great deal. Eve doesn’t know much about the woman, but she can almost feel her spirit lingering in her house. Not to mention, Eve can feel a true ghostly presence at times that worries her beyond belief.
The other facet of this story is decades before, when the Lincel family lived inside this very same house. Benedicte was a girl who lived there with her parents and siblings, and this ghost of a woman is still in the home wondering why she must still see pictures of her older sister, who became blind; as well as her horrible brother, Pierre, who adults loved but was one of the most contemptible people on the planet. Pierre had a wealth of secrets and lies hovering all around him, and his evil knew no bounds. While this woman tries to find out what exactly happened in her day and age, and what she has to perhaps pay for from the past, in another time Dom and Eve try to find a way to get their love back, and pull Dom from the darkness that he has surrounded himself with.
The story is a true testament to a wonderful gothic suspense. The writing is superb. As far as the poetry, when a paragraph says things like: "The stifling sultriness made sleep impossible; night closed in like the lid of a tomb," then you know you are reading a true artist. From ghosts to missing people disappearing in Eve’s world - from lust to romance to dramas that continue long after people have left the gardens - this is one truly fascinating book. Enjoy!
Until next time,
Amy
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