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    Fiercombe Manor: A Novel
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    Fiercombe Manor: A Novel
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    Fiercombe Manor: A Novel
    Ebook452 pages8 hours

    Fiercombe Manor: A Novel

    By Kate Riordan

    4.5/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    In this haunting and richly imagined dual-narrative tale that echoes the eerie mystery of Rebecca and The Little Stranger, two women of very different eras are united by the secrets hidden within the walls of an English manor house.

    In 1933, naive twenty-two year-old Alice—pregnant and unmarried—is in disgrace. Her mother banishes her from London to secluded Fiercombe Manor in rural Gloucestershire, where she can hide under the watchful eye of her mother’s old friend, the housekeeper Mrs. Jelphs. The manor’s owners, the Stantons, live abroad, and with her cover story of a recently-deceased husband Alice can have her baby there before giving it up for adoption and returning home. But as Alice endures the long, hot summer at Fiercombe awaiting the baby’s birth, she senses that something is amiss with the house and its absentee owners.

    Thirty years earlier, pregnant Lady Elizabeth Stanton desperately hopes for the heir her husband desires. Tormented by the memory of what happened after the birth of her first child, a daughter, she grows increasingly terrified that history will repeat itself, with devastating consequences.

    After meeting Tom, the young scion of the Stanton family, Alice becomes determined to uncover the clan’s tragic past and exorcise the ghosts of this idyllic, isolated house. But nothing can prepare Alice for what she uncovers. Soon it is her turn to fear: can she escape the tragic fate of the other women who have lived in the Fiercombe valley . . .

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateFeb 17, 2015
    ISBN9780062332967
    Unavailable
    Fiercombe Manor: A Novel
    Author

    Kate Riordan

    Kate Riordan is a British writer and journalist who worked for the Guardian and Time Out London. She is also the author of Birdcage Walk and is already at work on her third novel. Born in London, she now lives in the Gloucestershire countryside.

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    Reviews for Fiercombe Manor

    4.5/5

    35 ratings19 reviews

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    • 5/5
      This is a haunting novel set in the early 1930s, with flashbacks to the late 1890s. A young woman, Alice Eveleigh, falls pregnant by a married man in an era when this meant complete social stigmatisation. She is sent by her mother to a remote house in Gloucestershire, into the care of a lady, Edith Jelphs, whom she knew when she was younger. Mrs Jelphs is the guardian of a empty manor house in a remote valley, whose owner hardly ever visits. There Alice encounters the past in a haunting series of events that mirror those in her own life as her pregnancy advances. The author creates an atmosphere of creeping mystery and tension very well, in a style that reminds me of the creeping ghost stories of Jonathan Aycliffe, though I am not sure the final resolution entirely delivered on the sense of foreboding that had grown up, tragic enough though it was. A great read though.
    • 5/5
      This was indeed a great read..simply heartbreaking..I love the way the author has drawn parallels to the past and present and when everything comes full circle..
    • 5/5
      This novel, Riordan's debut title, is mystery rather crime fiction.The novel is the story of two women, separated by nearly four decades of time. Alice Eveleigh has come to Fiercombe Manor to hide a pregnancy, while Elizabeth Stanton was desperate to to produce a son for her mercurial husband.Alice has seen a photograph of Elizabeth and is consumed by a desire to know what eventually happened to her. The housekeeper at the manor knows the full story but everytime Alice asks Mrs Jelphs clams up.The story is told through their two voices.There is a very Gothic feel to the novel, and the story was well told.I'm sure I will be looking for another by this author.
    • 5/5
      It's 1933 and we meet Alice for the first time. Pregnant, unmarried, and disgraced, she has been exiled to the rural Fiercombe Manor by her furious mother. Alice soon learns that all is not as serene as it seems and that she's not the first young woman to meet a tragic fate here...there is also Elizabeth whose story is 30 years into the past. How many more is anyone's guess. I found [Fiercombe Manor] to be a very pleasant surprise. It's an easy read and follows the lives of both Alice and Elizabeth by alternating chapters. It's not exactly a ghost story but ti diffidently has a brooding atmosphere. I gave it 5 stars for being well written with well developed characters a good mystery and the fact that I just liked the feel of the book.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this Gothic story. I found the modern romance part rather hard to believe but it is a story where belief can be suspended. I loved the historical part of the story and I wanted to unravel that mystery. I did think there may be some mystery surrounding Alice herself, but there was not. All in all, a good read.
    • 2/5
      historical fiction (1890s/1930s English manor a la Downton abbey with a lot fewer characters to track) with ghosts/mystery, tragedy, and a little romance. This was a pretty decent read, but I just felt like I didn't have the time for it/wasn't in the mood for it, so I skipped from page 89 or so to the end to see it I would miss anything (not that much--or possibly, everything, it's hard to know). If you want to immerse yourself in the setting however, go for it--the writing style is fine and the characters are moderately interesting.
    • 4/5
      Sometimes you need just a book that borders on gothic romance, something with the flavor of those books I eagerly pulled off the shelves when I would race to the library after school to find something new to read; historical novels by the likes of Daphne Du Maurier or Mary Stewart. The kind that leave many readers today, accustomed to fast pace and fast living in their books get twitchy and stop reading. The kind where the setting, usually an English manor house, or lonely house on the cliffs/moors/highlands, or a rose twined cottage in a sleepy hamlet, is as much a character as the people in the tale are. the kind where dark secrets are hinted at, maybe a mysterious death or two.I like that kind of book, occasionally, especially when life has forced me to slow down and recuperate, which it has of late.I believe the book went under a different title originally, Girl in the Photograph. Either way, it's two stories several decades apart, in the same setting. In the latter tale (1933) Alice has gotten herself "in the family way" without benefit of a husband, and is shuttled off to an estate in the country where a friend of her mother's works as housekeeper, until the birth of the baby. But while there, she becomes fascinated by a former mistress of the estate, Lady Elizabeth Stanton, and the mysteries that surround her life and disappearance. The stories are well told, and do intertwine to some degree. There is also an interesting running theme exploring postpartum depression and how it was handled at the end of the Victorian era into the early Edwardian era.Tags: i-liked-it, made-me-look-something-up, read, read-in-2015, taught-me-something
    • 5/5
      I forgot how much I love these types of stories. It has the irresistible pull of the past echoing in the present. The old English houses that have stood for centuries with all their secrets. I simple love the way the author intertwined the past with the present and tied it all together. I cold hardly put this book down.
    • 4/5
      I love old houses and forgotten corners - there are so many stories to be told and remembered. Kate Riordan's latest book, Fiercombe Manor has one of those stories....1933 England. Young (and naive) Alice Eveleigh has gotten herself into 'trouble' with a married man. Her mother calls upon an old friend to take Alice in until the baby is born. That friend, Mrs. Jelphs, is the housekeeper of a old manor in a forgotten corner of the Gloucestershire countryside. Mrs Jelphs and old gardener Ruck are the only two staff (and residents) of the Stanton estate.All the elements are there for the perfect Gothic mystery - young, curious woman, old retainers, crumbling house with closed off rooms, secrets alluded to, and clues to the past. Riordan seals the deal with a delicious piece of foreshadowing....."When I think back to the memory, that first glimpse of Fiercombe Manor and the valley it seemed almost entombed in, I cannot recall any sense of unease......It seems amazing in light of what happened, but I can't say I felt any foreboding about the valley at all." " I could never have imagined all that would happen in those few short months and how, by the end of them, my life would be irrevocably altered forever."Riordan's novel is told in a past and present narrative. The past is from thirty years early and is Lady Elizabeth Stanton's story. Old letters that Alice uncovers begin to fill in the past for her, but the reader is privy to more through Elizabeth's voice. I found myself reacting more to Elizabeth's timeline, caught up in the past."There's an atmosphere, though, as if something of what's gone before is still here, like an echo or a reflection in a dark pool."Cue delicious tingle.....are there ghosts? Can the past reach out to the present? Is the sad history of Fiercombe Manor going to be repeated?Riordan's setting is wonderfully drawn - I could easily imagine the uneven stone floors, the crumbling outbuildings, the gardens and the dusty rooms. Time is also well done, with the social graces and mores of both time periods captured. Riordan also explores an issue that has a foot firmly in the present. (Sorry, I'm being deliberately oblique so as not to spoil the book for future readers)This novel is fairly lengthy at 400+ plus pages, but I enjoyed the slow unfurling of this novel. Riordan keeps the reader in the dark until the final chapters - and only then reveals the end of Elizabeth's story. Alice's story has a fairytale ending, perfect for this tale. (I have a 'thing' for covers. I loved this one - I wanted to go exploring myself!)Fiercombe Manor is best read in a comfy armchair within a lamp's circle of light with the wind whistling outside at night. Oh, and a pot of tea.
    • 5/5
      I loved this, couldn't put it down. Reminded me of Daphne Du Mauier or Kate Morton's writing.
    • 4/5
      The Girl in the Photograph is an atmospheric historical fiction novel by Kate Riordan that captured my interest from the very beginning.Set in Fiercombe manor, this is the story of two women, Elizabeth in the 1890s and Alice in the 1930s and we hear from both women in the first person.When Alice moves to Fiercombe Manor, she becomes interested and perhaps even obsessed with the life of Elizabeth, previous lady of the house. Alice starts to unravel Elizabeth's story, and discovers it's not too different from her own.Both women feel oppressed by the social standards and expectations of the time in which they live; Alice by her mother and Elizabeth by her husband, giving the novel an almost gothic atmosphere.Early comparisons to Kate Morton seem to follow every review of The Girl in the Photograph, and I have to agree. I'm a devoted fan of Australian author Kate Morton, and although Kate Riordan is a UK writer, The Girl in the Photograph, definitely feels as though it could have been written by Morton. The way in which Riordan splits her story into two time periods, with the character in the present (in this case the 1930s) pulling at threads of the past and feeling that the ghost of time and the essence of Elizabeth is never too far away is strongly reminiscent of Kate Morton's style.Far from being critical of the similarities in style, I feel I've discovered a new favourite author to add to my list and I eagerly anticipate the next offering from Kate Riordan.P.S. If you're into combining music with your reading, then I suggest listening to Johnny Belinda or Hanging On by Active Child when reading this novel. They seem to go hand in hand.
    • 4/5
      3.5 An old manor house, a hidden journal, a summer house with a secret room, a glass house falling apart and a 40 year old mystery. These are the things that Alice finds when she is sent to Fiercombe manor in 1933. Sent by her mother after a one night sexual relationship , leaves her pregnant.Love the gothic tone of this novel, the slowness of the story and the secrets and the way they are revealed. What did happen to Elizabeth Stanton and her daughter Isabelle? In alternate voices, we hear from Elizabeth, her pregnancies ending in sadness, her faltering relationship with her husband, Edward, her deepest fears and terrible memories. We watch as Alice attempts to piece together all the things she uncovers along with the many things she senses. A good, entertaining novel, perfect for the dark days of winter.ARC from publisher.
    • 5/5
      I was immediately drawn into this captivating dual timeframe story, set in the 1890s and 1930s, told in the third and first person respectively. It revolves around two women whose situations uncannily mirror each other somewhat.Alice Eveleigh has been sent to Fiercombe Manor in rural Gloucesteshire after she becomes pregnant by a married man, to await the birth and avoid a scandal. There she discovers letters and a diary belonging to the lady of the manor, Elizabeth Stanton, who lived on the estate 40 years previously. As Alice digs deeper into the mystery of Elizabeth's life, she uncovers a sad secret. The two stories are linked by the enigmatic Edith Jelphs, an old friend of Alice's mother, who was once maid to Elizabeth and who is now the housekeeper. Just what is she hiding?This is an absorbing and atmospheric tale, very much a page turner for me. It is beautifully, lyrically and expressively written. The descriptions of the surroundings are very vivid and easy to imagine. Dual timeframe novels are my favourite genre and this one did not disappoint. The switch between Alice and Elizabeth's stories is expertly executed and completely seamless.I found 'The Girl in the Photograph' an immensely enjoyable and gripping read, which should definitely appeal to fans of Kate Morton.Many thanks to Real Readers for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book, which will be published on 15 January.
    • 4/5
      After a brief affair with a married man at her office, twenty-two year old and unmarried Alice finds herself pregnant. Her mother decides to ship Alice off to rural Gloucestershire to have her confinement at Fiercombe Manor where an old friend, Edith Jelphs, works as the housekeeper. With a made up story of a dead husband, Alice is welcomed to Fiercombe and glad to be out of the watchful eye of her mother. As Alice becomes settled at the manor, she notices a few strange occurrences and slowly learns the tragic history of the manor and its absent owners. With a haunting and elegant prose, the mysteries of Fiercombe Manor slowly unfold. I enjoyed the switching points of view between Alice in 1932 and Elizabeth and 1898 and the parallel stories added to the suspense of the mystery and provided a pretty good pace; I did feel a little bit of a drag in the middle, but it picked back up. While both women’s characters captured me, I felt more invested in Elizabeth’s story, especially once Alice is set on discovering what happened in the past with another woman who was pregnant at the manor. Alice’s spirit and the hint of a romance lured me into her story. Most of all, I was interested in the overall treatment of women, the treatment of post-partum depression and their pregnancies during the two time periods, the factors that draw Alice and Elizabeth’s stories together. Overall, Fiercombe Manor is a highly atmospheric historical mystery with a bit of romance.This book was received for free in return for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      The Girl in the Photograph, by Kate Riordan, PenguinQuietly tender, this ghost story without a ghost is the evocative tale of Fiercombe Manor, haunted by past secrets and tragedies – but it’s also a period study gilded by romance. Riordan uses a dual narrative technique with two timeframes: Alice Eveleigh, a 22-year-old unwed mother, has been sent to hide her shame in the remote Fiercombe valley. It is 1932 and the disgraced Alice is waiting out her pregnancy under the eye of an elderly housekeeper when she discovers an old diary. The diarist is the ill-fated Elizabeth Stanton, lady of the manor in the late 1890s, and the other half of the narrative. Elizabeth’s fate is a mystery Alice is determined to solve – especially after she finds a photograph of the doomed beauty. It is only at the end of the book that the languid pace increases and the air of melancholy turns to one of urgency: despite themes of post-natal depression and early death, the book has a satisfyingly upbeat ending. **** Aubrey Paton
    • 3/5
      ‘Fiercombe is a place of secrets. They fret among the uppermost branches of the beech trees and brood at the cold bottom of the stream that cleaves the valley in two. The past has seeped into the soil here like spilt blood.’In 1932, twenty-two year old Alice Eveleigh finds herself pregnant by a man she thought she loved but is already married to another. In an attempt to spare the family scandal, her mother sends her to stay with an old friend, Mrs. Jelphs, at Fiercombe Manor in the English countryside until the baby is born and they can give it up for adoption. With nothing to do to keep her occupied, Alice gets drawn into the curious history of the Stanton family and the previous residents of Fiercombe that seemingly disappeared without a trace. Discovering a diary kept by Elizabeth Stanton which details her pregnancy only increases her curiosity and the more she finds out about her, the more she fears she’s destined for the same fate.‘Elizabeth. That was the first time I saw her name. What did I think, if anything? I’m sure I traced the letters with my finger; perhaps I even whispered it under my breath, the hiss of the second syllable, the sigh of the last. But that was all. My interest in her and the estate’s history was fleeting then – a faint glimmer of intrigue that glowed and then dimmed again, though not before it had lodged itself at the back of my mind, ready to be brought out later.’This book had everything going for it: Gothic setting in the English countryside, the dual-narratives/timelines that inevitably collide with one another in the end, and even a creepy Rebecca-esque housekeeper. It was everything I should have loved, and I did, for the most part. The issue I have with most dual narratives is the fact that one is most generally always more interesting than the other, as is the case with Fiercombe. Elizabeth’s narrative set in the late 1800s centered around the common affliction that was terribly misunderstood of puerperal insanity, a form of postpartum depression. It’s always difficult reading about medical issues being misconstrued in the past resulting in far worse instances than should have occurred. But Elizabeth’s narrative was not only terribly sad but it was gripping and truly haunting. Alice’s narrative involved her trying to uncover information about Elizabeth, having formed something of a mental kinship to her from her diary since most of Elizabeth’s writings were during the time when she too was pregnant. The attempt to join the two narratives together wasn’t exactly convincing, and Alice’s fears were tame in comparison to Elizabeth’s genuine ones, although my interest in finding out what happened to both women never seemed to wane.Fiercombe Manor kept me fully invested to the very end with atmospheric writing and a haunting past revealed piece by piece.
    • 5/5
      The Girl in the Photograph - Kate RiordanI wish I hadn’t read this book, I really do. Because if I hadn’t I would still have it here waiting for me to begin and become enveloped in its poignant tale of two intertwined lives.I’m seldom an admirer of ‘book blurb’ and when I read that this story was for fans of Kate Atkinson and Kate Morton, both of whom I love, I was ready to deride the comparison. I had read The Birdcage, Kate Riordan’s first novel, a good historical novel but not up there with the Misses Atkinson and Morton. But, oh boy, how right the blurbers are!! More Morton than Atkinson but this just sucks you into the vortex of its narrative and you don't want to leave until you’ve unravelled the stories of these two women. The atmosphere created is palpable.When Alice first arrives at Fiercombe Manor I was reminded of Daphne Du Maurier and Rebecca. It seemed, momentarily, that Mrs. Danvers was returned, incarnate, in the body of Mrs.Jelphs, appearing like a phantom at the window of Alice's room. But any comparisons slowly ebbed away as this writer claimed her own voice within this story.All the characters are well developed and they all serve a purpose, there’s nothing wasted here, no words, no depictions are gratuitous but that doesn’t mean that this is an economic story. The descriptions are full, rich and accessible, a juxtaposition of control and flow. The term of a pregnancy used to be refereed to as a confinement and this word is an apt, almost allegorical, description of the lives of both Alice and Elizabeth whose confinements go way beyond their pregnancies. And if we are going to extend this natal metaphor Alice must go full term to unravel the mystery and the history of Elizabeth Stanton. Thank you, Real Readers, for this book. I loved it.
    • 4/5
      I Read this during a busy time so I could only get 1 or 2 chapters in at each setting and I think that took away from my total enjoyment of the book. The story moves fairly quickly and I think the suspense and mystery would have felt more pronounced if I had read more at each sitting. I felt Ms. Riordan did a great job of giving us a visual feel for the homes and surrounding area. It played out in my head as a movie. That is always a plus for me. Great read for October!
    • 5/5
      Fiercombe Manor is a first-person narrative that follows the emotions and experiences of Alice, a London girl who falls for the wrong man. She is sent to live in the country at an old estate shrouded in a troubled history. The story reminded me of reading older classics such as Jane Eyre. The action is whisper soft that creeps up on you with intense suspense near the end. This quote neatly sums up a theme in the book: "...and both of us entrapped by those supposedly closest to us, unable to direct our own destinies." This book was published in the UK as The Girl in the Photograph.