In post-war Warwickshire, young Dr. Faraday is called to the mansion Hundreds Hall to treat a 14-year old maid for illness. Faraday visited the mansion as a young boy, when his parents worked as servants at the Hall, and this visit renews his interest in the mansion, now decaying even as the remaining occupants, the Ayres, struggle to maintain it with limited funds and limited help. There is Mrs. Ayres, whose first child died before either of her two remaining children were born, Roderick, who came home injured from the War, and Caroline, who has taken on much of the physical work needed to maintain the house and grounds. Faraday becomes a regular visitor to the mansion and soon becomes entwined in the mystery surrounding the house. Is the house haunted? By whom? As narrator, Faraday is- to me, at least- impossibly dull, but his thick-headedness only adds to the mystery. There were moments when I could not for the life of me understand why the characters couldn't accept what was so obvious to the reader, but then I realized that's what the author wanted. Either that, or that old-world class-consciousness rendered these people incapable of accepting the changes taking place around them.
This was a good old-fashioned read, almost like reading Daphne du Maurier, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I even read it more slowly than I read a lot of books, savoring the mystery and the excellent writing.
And those two questions I posed earlier? They're not quite answered! Well-done!
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