Book Review: The Woman in the Mirror by Rebecca James

The Woman in the Mirror by Rebecca James
Length: 368 Pages
Genres: Gothic Horror, Historical Fiction
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Trigger Warnings in this book for Miscarriage, Forced Institutionalization, Parental Abuse, Suicide, Relationship Between an Adult and a Minor (A girl and her teacher. Not Graphic.), Forced Adoption, Blood and Murder

It always delights me to discover a new (well, semi-new) gothic being published, as that's the genre of my heart and also the one I'm currently writing in! The Woman in the Mirror is full of delightful and well-done genre-conventions that will make a gothic lover's heart sing!

In 1947, Alice Miller has been hired to be a governess at the Cornish estate of Winterbourne. It is just after the war and she is eager to leave London, the Blitz, and the untimely death of her fiancé far behind her. There, she meets the enigmatic Captain Jonathan de Grey, left scarred and with a limp from the war, and his cherubic twins, Constance and Edmund. Only, things are not right at Winterbourne. The previous Governess left mysteriously and abruptly. The Captain is loathe to speak of the death of his wife, whose life and sudden end hangs over the estate like a shadow. Alice wants nothing more than to be a balm to the children who so need a mother, and perhaps, find a way to the Captain's heart, but she is thwarted at every turn by something sinister, jealous, and hundreds of years old.

In modern day New York, Rachel Wright is the head of a newly-opened gallery and the lover of a famous entrepreneur--yet it's not enough. All her life, Rachel has felt displaced, hollowed-out by the knowledge that she doesn't know where she came from. She is adopted, you see, and knows nothing of her biological parents. But that is about to change, because Rachel is told that she has inherited a isolated Cornish estate--Winterbourne--from an unknown aunt. Driven by questions that she is both afraid and desperate to answer, Rachel leaves everything behind in New York to go to Cornwall and discover her past, and possibly her future. But whatever stalked Alice all those years ago has not grown weaker with time and is ready for fresh de Grey blood.

This is a story that would be perfect for Halloween--it's full of foggy Cornish weather, an angry witch, a portrait that changes constantly and all sorts of things that go bump in the night. Rebecca James writes beautifully and it only adds to the dark spell The Woman in the Mirror will cast on you. If you're looking for a recently published work along the vein of the classics Rebecca or The Turn of the Screw, this will do just the trick!