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The Animals at Lockwood Manor
by
Some secrets are unspoken. Others are unspeakable . . .
August 1939.
Thirty-year-old Hetty Cartwright is tasked with the evacuation and safekeeping of the natural history museum’s collection of mammals. Once she and her exhibits arrive at Lockwood Manor, however, where they are to stay for the duration of the war, Hetty soon realizes that she’s taken on more than she’d barga ...more
August 1939.
Thirty-year-old Hetty Cartwright is tasked with the evacuation and safekeeping of the natural history museum’s collection of mammals. Once she and her exhibits arrive at Lockwood Manor, however, where they are to stay for the duration of the war, Hetty soon realizes that she’s taken on more than she’d barga ...more
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''Lockwood had too many empty rooms. They sat there, hushed and gaping, waiting for my mind to fill them with horrors - spectres and shadows and strange creeping creatures. And sometimes what was already there was frightening enough: empty chairs; the hulk of a hollow wardrobe; a painting that slid off the wall on its own accord and shattered on the floor; the billowing of a curtain in a stray gust of wind; a light bulb that flickered like a message from the beyond. Empty rooms hold the possi
...more
Jane Healey writes a dark, disturbing and slow moving gothic mystery with echoes of a number of classic novels, set amidst the background of WW2, the decline of the aristocracy and the social norms, attitudes and expectations of women in this period. It is 1939, 30 year old Hetty Cartwright is a museum curator charged with overseeing the removal and protection of the taxidermy mammal collection at the natural history museum to Lockwood Manor for the duration of the war. She finds her task signif
...more
Giveaway win!
The Animals at Lockwood Manor just was not for me. Nothing happens....
I mean AT ALL!
This book was so boring. The "mystery" wasn't a mystery, it was super obvious who behind all the strange happenings. This book was described as being sexy and spooky but it wasn't either of those things.
Jane Healey has a beautiful way with words but her plotting and storytelling could use some work. ...more
The Animals at Lockwood Manor just was not for me. Nothing happens....
I mean AT ALL!
This book was so boring. The "mystery" wasn't a mystery, it was super obvious who behind all the strange happenings. This book was described as being sexy and spooky but it wasn't either of those things.
Jane Healey has a beautiful way with words but her plotting and storytelling could use some work. ...more
This is a story of ghosts and monsters.
The bright, colourful cover is a bit misleading, because this is a spooky sort of story. There are animals, sure, but they are stuffed specimens with empty glass eyes that bear witness to the strange happenings at Lockwood Manor.
Plot: Hetty is sent from London to watch over the animals, which have been moved from the museum to Lockwood Manor for the duration of the war, so that they might have a better chance of survival. Only, the manor's lord is a menacin ...more
The bright, colourful cover is a bit misleading, because this is a spooky sort of story. There are animals, sure, but they are stuffed specimens with empty glass eyes that bear witness to the strange happenings at Lockwood Manor.
Plot: Hetty is sent from London to watch over the animals, which have been moved from the museum to Lockwood Manor for the duration of the war, so that they might have a better chance of survival. Only, the manor's lord is a menacin ...more
DNF at 30%
While I understand that the Gothic is an inherently intertextual genre that is derivative by its very nature, I do expect something a bit more innovative from contemporary Gothic fiction.
Sadly, so far into Jane Healey's debut novel and we already have an abundance of on the nose references and little else: there is a red room (Jane Eyre), rumours of a ghost who known as 'the woman in white' (The Woman in White), and a creepy housekeeper + a huge mansion (Rebecca).
The Gothic atmosphere ...more
While I understand that the Gothic is an inherently intertextual genre that is derivative by its very nature, I do expect something a bit more innovative from contemporary Gothic fiction.
Sadly, so far into Jane Healey's debut novel and we already have an abundance of on the nose references and little else: there is a red room (Jane Eyre), rumours of a ghost who known as 'the woman in white' (The Woman in White), and a creepy housekeeper + a huge mansion (Rebecca).
The Gothic atmosphere ...more
This book was described as a Gothic novel set in England at the time of WW 2. It was a must-read for me, and regret I was disappointed. It did establish an eerie feeling, but I felt it was too slow-paced to build up much suspense and was derivative of some of the classic Gothic tales. There was too much description of the women’s nightmares, night terrors, and inner turmoil. I thought this detracted from developing them as full characters, rather than personalities consisting of their instabilit
...more
A creepy gothic manor haunted by ghosts of the past; an unpleasant lord of the manor with hidden secrets; creepy stuffed animals *shudder*. I suppose it’s true that valuable items from London museums were evacuated to prevent destruction in air raids? I enjoyed the story but couldn’t particularly take to the main character Hetty. Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.
Taxidermy? In my reading? And it didn’t freak me out? Colour me surprised and intrigued.
Okay so, upfront, I loved The Animals at Lockwood Manor. It’s got a really mysterious Gothic Jane Eyre vibe, but set during WW2 and with a sapphic relationship.
Jane Healey is a new-to-me author but I was blown away by her writing style. The pacing is slow and drawn-out (so something to watch out for if that’s not your thing) which gradually builds up all the simmering tension that’s brewing just under the sur ...more
Lockwood Manor has four floors, and ninety-two rooms. Many of these rooms are empty and unused,
“Lockwood had too many empty rooms. They sat there, hushed and gaping, waiting for my mind to fill them with horrors – spectres and shadows and strange creeping creatures”.
With the threat of London being bombed by Germany, the taxidermied animals, many quite rare, are being evacuated from the natural history museum. The mammals are to be kept at Lockwood Manor. Hetty Cartwright, in the role of assistan ...more
“Lockwood had too many empty rooms. They sat there, hushed and gaping, waiting for my mind to fill them with horrors – spectres and shadows and strange creeping creatures”.
With the threat of London being bombed by Germany, the taxidermied animals, many quite rare, are being evacuated from the natural history museum. The mammals are to be kept at Lockwood Manor. Hetty Cartwright, in the role of assistan ...more
It’s the start of WW2 Hetty Cartwright is a museum curator in London in charge of the Mammal collection. When she is evacuated to Lockwood Manor with the collection to keep it safe against the air raids of London. Lockwood Manor is a big house with so many rooms, with not so many people to fill it. The lady of the manor tragically died left with the lord of the house and his daughter.
When the collection is brought to the house, Hetty struggles to keep up with keeping an eye on the collection and ...more
When the collection is brought to the house, Hetty struggles to keep up with keeping an eye on the collection and ...more
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A unique and wonderfully spun gothic mystery taking place in England during WWII. Hetty is promoted to Director of the Museum at the start of the war. She is tasked with safeguarding and accompanying many of the mammal specimens of the museum to Lockwood Manor where they’ll reside during the war in hopes of being protected from the bombs expected to rain down on London. Lockwood is an enormous estate compromising of 92 rooms, several servants, Lord Lockwood, and his daughter Lucy. The Lo ...more
A unique and wonderfully spun gothic mystery taking place in England during WWII. Hetty is promoted to Director of the Museum at the start of the war. She is tasked with safeguarding and accompanying many of the mammal specimens of the museum to Lockwood Manor where they’ll reside during the war in hopes of being protected from the bombs expected to rain down on London. Lockwood is an enormous estate compromising of 92 rooms, several servants, Lord Lockwood, and his daughter Lucy. The Lo ...more
I wanted to love this sooooooo much. I wanted it to live up to the idea presented in the synopsis. I don't know if it's because I read a different (5 star) thriller before this, or if I just wasn't in the mood.. but it just felt too slow the entire time. I usually love slow books, but this one just didn't do it for me. It didn't focus enough on the suspense and thrill, and I was not a fan of the romance. To me, the romance took away from the story and felt unnecessary. I was so close to DNF'ing
...more
Though less overtly creepy than A Shadow on the Lens, this book is plenty unsettling in its own right. And it also happens to be historical: set in World War Two, to be exact, though I’ve never read anything quite like it before.
The heroine of the story is Hetty, a young woman sent to Lockwood Manor to be the caretaker of a collection of rare taxidermy animals for the museum that she’s employed by. But things aren’t as simple as they first appear: the animals are vanishing, or moving, the manor ...more
The heroine of the story is Hetty, a young woman sent to Lockwood Manor to be the caretaker of a collection of rare taxidermy animals for the museum that she’s employed by. But things aren’t as simple as they first appear: the animals are vanishing, or moving, the manor ...more
Apr 09, 2020
Meags
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
f-f,
war-and-military,
crime-mystery-suspense,
historical-fiction,
lgbt,
borrowbox,
romance,
audiobook
3.5 Stars
The Animals at Lockwood Manor is a historical fiction story, refreshingly starring two complex, queer female leads, who find themselves falling in love in a time of war and oppression.
The story follows Hetty, a strong-willed, professional woman, who finds herself sent to the rural residence of Lockwood Manor at the beginning of the war (WW2), tasked with watching over the natural history museum’s mammal exhibit in an environment deemed safe in wartime.
What should be a sedate stay in th ...more
The Animals at Lockwood Manor is a historical fiction story, refreshingly starring two complex, queer female leads, who find themselves falling in love in a time of war and oppression.
The story follows Hetty, a strong-willed, professional woman, who finds herself sent to the rural residence of Lockwood Manor at the beginning of the war (WW2), tasked with watching over the natural history museum’s mammal exhibit in an environment deemed safe in wartime.
What should be a sedate stay in th ...more
“It had been living here that had turned my mother and I mad... I was sure that something still lurked here inside these walls, something hidden, something - someone - malevolent and wrong.”
As German bombs threaten London, Lockwood Manor receives some unusual evacuees - the animal exhibits of a London natural history museum, presided over by museum worker Hetty Cartwright.
The house, inhabited by unpleasant Major Lockwood and his fragile daughter Lucy, has seen its own recent tragedies: Lucy’s mo ...more
As German bombs threaten London, Lockwood Manor receives some unusual evacuees - the animal exhibits of a London natural history museum, presided over by museum worker Hetty Cartwright.
The house, inhabited by unpleasant Major Lockwood and his fragile daughter Lucy, has seen its own recent tragedies: Lucy’s mo ...more
Apr 10, 2020
Diane S ☔
added it
Throwing in the towel. Just not holding my interest in any way shape or form.
I found myself absolutely lost in this book. The atmosphere of Lockwood Manor just pulled me right into the story, following Hetty as she tries to keep the animal collection safe in its temporary home.
As the threat of bombing looms, the extensive animal collection of London's Natural History Museum is evacuated to a safer location at Lockwood Manor. Hetty Cartwright is appointed as the guardian of the collection, and moves alongside it to take up residence at Lockwood Manor. However, almost as s ...more
As the threat of bombing looms, the extensive animal collection of London's Natural History Museum is evacuated to a safer location at Lockwood Manor. Hetty Cartwright is appointed as the guardian of the collection, and moves alongside it to take up residence at Lockwood Manor. However, almost as s ...more
Three and a half stars. This was a cover buy for me - something I almost never do! Unfortunately the novel inside didn’t quite live up to the glorious cover and peacock endpapers. The story was slow, though interesting enough to hold my attention, the manor house setting was splendidly realized, but both of the main characters were wet and rather dull. I wish a bit more had happened outside of their endless dreams!
3.5 stars. Fill a country manor with taxidermy animals, add a woman in white reminiscent of Wilkie Collins, and gaslighting straight out of Jane Eyre, and you've got the ingredients of an atmospheric gothic novel. The setting was as vivid as Manderley and the museum animals provided a wonderful creep factor. Though I liked the tenderness of the relationship between Hetty and Lucy, I wanted to see more depth in the supporting characters. The suspense element driving the plot is a bit obvious, bog
...more
A perfect hybrid of Daphne Du Maurier and Patricia Highsmith, THE ANIMALS AT LOCKWOOD MANOR by Jane Healey is a mesmerizing debut. Healey uses beautiful, clean prose to first clinically, then atmospherically, and then finally with a methodical mounting of dread, convey the strange goings-on of a grand British estate house and its even stranger inhabitants. The narrative switches between the assistant keeper evacuated during the Blitz to Lockwood Manor along with the mammal contents of a natural
...more
It's 1939, and a young female museum curator is evacuated with the musems mammal collection to Lockwood Manor, where she will remain for the duration of the war, caring and watching over the collection.
Hetty soon finds herself clashing with Lord Lockwood who looks at the collection as something he can use to his advantage. She befriends Lucy, Lord Lockwood's daughter who is dealing with the death of her mother and grandmother and who is haunted by her past and the secrets held within the walls o ...more
Hetty soon finds herself clashing with Lord Lockwood who looks at the collection as something he can use to his advantage. She befriends Lucy, Lord Lockwood's daughter who is dealing with the death of her mother and grandmother and who is haunted by her past and the secrets held within the walls o ...more
visit the locations in the novel
This book has all the ingredients I really love in a novel. A gothic manor house in the English countryside, secrets galore within and some cranky old characters you can’t trust. Add to this, something which I would find interesting to see in a museum but frightening to see in a house – stuffed animals – and that ramps up the interest right from the off. Should I read this at night I asked myself? I was not brave enough to in the end and that was a good decision.
T ...more
Jan 12, 2020
Sarah-Hope
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
edelweissplus,
2020
World War II. A young woman finds herself curator of mammals at the British Museum as more and more men head off to fight. With the threat of air raids, the Mammals are shipped off to a country mansion. Where they are attacked by parasites, move about, disappear...? As the young curator grows increasingly close to the adult daughter living in the mansion, the Lord (and father) grows increasingly threatening.
If you've read much in the way of psychological suspense novels, you can pretty much gues ...more
If you've read much in the way of psychological suspense novels, you can pretty much gues ...more
Firstly thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for a this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I absolutely loved this novel, and found myself thinking about it even after I had put it down.
Hetty Cartwright finds herself at Lockwood manor during ww2 with a collection of exhibits from the National Museum which she has been charged with keeping safe during the blitz. What follows is an intriguing , Gothic tale which I can honestly say went in a direction I was not expecting.
I really enjoyed Ja ...more
I absolutely loved this novel, and found myself thinking about it even after I had put it down.
Hetty Cartwright finds herself at Lockwood manor during ww2 with a collection of exhibits from the National Museum which she has been charged with keeping safe during the blitz. What follows is an intriguing , Gothic tale which I can honestly say went in a direction I was not expecting.
I really enjoyed Ja ...more
DNF - Wanted to like this, but my attention just kept wandering off. I needed a little more substance to the overall mood of the book, wanted the pace to pick up.
Jane Healey masters the craftwork of heavenly prose like a seamstress weaving silk - her descriptive prowess and articulation of dark atmospheric tone is simply divine. This book demands to be read by the hearth, with a mug of something warm, and in a smart, British accent (or at least that's what I did.)
Set in 1939, aspiring museum director Hetty Cartwright is tasked with the job of a lifetime - to oversee the relocation of a mammal exhibit for a London gallery to Lockwood Manor in an attempt t ...more
Set in 1939, aspiring museum director Hetty Cartwright is tasked with the job of a lifetime - to oversee the relocation of a mammal exhibit for a London gallery to Lockwood Manor in an attempt t ...more
London and the second world war is coming. The London Museum is sending its different collections out to country Manors to protect them from possible bombings in the city. Hetty Cartwright is in charge of the mammals going to Lockwood Manor.
Netty will battle with missing animals , horrible people, strange goings on at night time and a Manor that looks nice on the outside but is not at all perfect on the inside.
This is quite a dark story and odd too because I usually read of shocking conditions ...more
Netty will battle with missing animals , horrible people, strange goings on at night time and a Manor that looks nice on the outside but is not at all perfect on the inside.
This is quite a dark story and odd too because I usually read of shocking conditions ...more
This is the debut novel by young Scottish author Jane Healey. (An aside here that she is not to be confused with U.S. Bostonian Jane Healey, author of THE BEANTOWN GIRLS and THE SATURDAY EVENING GIRLS CLUB.) Set in 1939, during the beginning of Britain's entry into WWII, the story merely uses the war as an incidental backdrop that's not really essential to the plot.
The basic plot has Hetty Cartwright, employee of a London natural history museum, put in charge of the relocation to outside London ...more
The basic plot has Hetty Cartwright, employee of a London natural history museum, put in charge of the relocation to outside London ...more
The Animals of Lockwood Manor is love story and thriller in one, detailing obsession: with work, with ghosts, with people and with the house.
Like all great gothic fiction, Lockwood Manor itself is a character within the story, with one of the narrators, Lucy, saying that she has the house’s name - the manor has a hold over the inhabits: the Lockwood family, the evacuated museum workers, and the host of wild and rare taxidermy museum specimens.
Jane’s writing is intelligent and opulent and lyrica ...more
Like all great gothic fiction, Lockwood Manor itself is a character within the story, with one of the narrators, Lucy, saying that she has the house’s name - the manor has a hold over the inhabits: the Lockwood family, the evacuated museum workers, and the host of wild and rare taxidermy museum specimens.
Jane’s writing is intelligent and opulent and lyrica ...more
This book has a spooky gothic feel to it. There's an old family mansion with dozens of empty rooms full of old forgotten objects shrouded in dust sheets. Some rooms are inhabited by stuffed animals evacuated from a London museum with empty glass eyes. The animals seem to move of their own accord. There's madness in the family, mysterious deaths and stories of a curse and a ghost that prowls the corridors at night.
All the ingredients are here for a spooky gothic tale.
So why only three stars? Bas ...more
All the ingredients are here for a spooky gothic tale.
So why only three stars? Bas ...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bookish First Rea...: The Animals at Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey | 4 | 16 | Nov 16, 2019 03:51PM |
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