The Animals at Lockwood Manor

by Jane Healey

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 bargained for.

Protecting her charges from the irascible Lord Lockwood and resentful servants is work enough, but when some of the animals go missing, and worse, Hetty begins to suspect someone – or something – is stalking her through the darkened corridors of the house.

As the disasters mount, Hetty finds herself falling under the spell of Lucy, Lord Lockwood’s beautiful but clearly haunted daughter. But why is Lucy so traumatized? Does she know something she’s not telling? And is there any truth to local rumours of ghosts and curses?

Part love story, part mystery, The Animals at Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey is a gripping and atmospheric tale of family madness, long-buried secrets and hidden desires.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Mystery, Gothic, Historical, LGBT, Fantasy

352 pages, Hardcover

First published March 10, 2020

About the author

Jane Healey studied English Literature at Warwick University and writing in the MFA program at CUNY Brooklyn College. Her short fiction has been shortlisted for the Bristol Short Story Prize, the Costa Short Story Award and the Commonwealth Short Story Prize.

The Ophelia Girls is her second novel. Her first, The Animals at Lockwood Manor, was published in 2020 and won the HWA Debut Crown Award.

She lives in Edinburgh.

Reviews

[Paromjit · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 significantly more challenging than she expects in the face of the hostility and resentment she faces. The widower Lord Lockwood is an irritating, bullying and menacing presence but Hetty feels a kinship with his daughter, Lady Lucy, finding herself irresistibly drawn to her. Lucy is a anxious, traumatised, fragile and haunted woman, plagued by grief, fears, dreams and nightmares.

In a unsettling and creepily atmospheric narrative, the manor is a character in its own right, where strange and mysterious things occur, the animal exhibits move and disappear, and there are strong hints of a malevolent presence, and rumours of ghosts and curses. This is a multilayered read of family secrets, an unexpected love, loss, mental health, madness, sexuality and abuse. Healey expertly builds up a claustrophobic, spooky and oppressive feel to her multilayered storytelling. Her writing is beautiful, richly descriptive and she has a real talent for characterisation. An engrossing and engaging read with plenty of suspense and tension, and packed with intrigue and mystery. Many thanks to Pan Macmillan for an ARC.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[luce (cry bebè's back from hiatus)]

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 is rendered only by our trembling female protagonists. Having a character shudder or experience goosebumps doesn't really make your narrative into a Gothic one.
The story is narrated by the two female narrators...and they sound exactly the same.
Also, why are they both so incompetent? They spend most of the time feeling that their 'heart is tightening' and that their skin is 'prickling'...these tremulous creatures are better suited to Ann Radcliffe.
The historical setting is incredibly generic. Apparently the story takes place in the 1940s but the language they use seems vaguely 'historic'...there are some references to the war and women are seen as inferior...but these things hardly make the setting into a realistic or vivid one.
The writing is okay...miles away from Sarah Waters...but then again this is a debut.

All in all, this is an uncreative and unconvincing novel so I am more than happy to leave it unfinished.

[Krystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 menacing sort of fellow, and strange things are occurring - animals are moving about or being misplaced, and there are rumours of a ghost being seen in corridors. Feeling isolated and out of place, Hetty focuses her efforts on protecting the museum's specimens, while slowly becoming closer to the lord's daughter, Lucy.

This was definitely creepier than I was expecting, which I really loved. All those stuffed animals really gives it a spooky atmosphere, and the unfriendly locals and rumours of ghosts helps to charge the tension. Hetty is a quirky sort of girl, and rather obsessed with taking care of her charges, which was both admirable and frustrating at the same time. It certainly didn't make her any friends. Aside from Lucy, that is.

Lucy is a bit strange herself, which is part of what draws the two characters together. They have some similarities in the way they don't seem to fit in with their peers. It was rather interesting getting to know these two, and how they were both similar and different. The growth of their relationship was quite enjoyable, though I was rather saddened by the fact that they seemed to view all men as brutish and simple.

The story starts strong, and becomes eerie almost immediately, but it did slow around the halfway point with not a lot of development. The tension was steady when I wanted it to continue to increase, and I felt that there were a lot of secrets that weren't utilised efficiently. There was no real exploration of the dark and menacing, choosing instead to flick the focus of the story back to the developing relationship between the two women instead. I would have enjoyed it more if it had taken the time to elaborate on all the creepy occurrences.

I also felt that the climax of the story was both too little too late, and a bit weak. I think once I felt like I was in a horror story, the deviations from that felt out of place to me. But this isn't a story of the supernatural - this is a story of people, and how the mind conjures its own ghosts and monsters. So that element I did rather enjoy.

It's a unique sort of story, with more charged atmosphere than galloping action. It's a slow journey of getting to know the people and the manor itself, and focuses on the relationships between people and the power of fear and the subconscious mind.

I really enjoyed it, though it did slow down after the halfway mark and the ending was a little anti-climatic for my tastes. It is, however, beautifully written with a real Gothic horror feel to it, which was unexpected yet not unwelcome.

With thanks to Macmillan for a copy to read and review

[Carolyn Walsh · Rating 2 out of 5]

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 instabilities and dysfunctions. There was the haughty, evil lord of the manor, an emotionally disturbed woman in a turret room, a destructive fire, and a woman feeling out of place in her new surroundings. This all harks back to earlier Gothic tales. But what a gorgeous book cover!

The story is narrated by Lucy and Hetty. Lucy, daughter of Lord Lockwood, is presented as a fragile and easily frightened beauty. She is emotionally and mentally unstable, haunted, melancholic and subject to bouts of hysteria.

Hetty has been tasked as the curator of a Natural History Museum in London to move their collection of mammals to the safety of Lockwood Manor, a country estate. She is to safeguard the exhibit there for the duration of the war. She is a thirty-year-old woman, proud that she has a career that was a mans’ job before the war. She is socially awkward and obsessed with animals, especially the collection of stuffed animals entrusted to her care. In her mind she likens people to the mammals she imagines they resemble. When a man flirts with her, she has been known to respond with a lecture on the classification of animal species. She finds it difficult to relate to men and considers herself a spinster career woman.

Lockwood Manor is the true star of the book. Described in vivid, atmospheric terms, it is a malevolent presence that overwhelms the story with its rumored ghosts and creepy events. It is a 92 room crumbling mansion, beset by moths, mice, cats, mould, cold, and damp. The rooms are dark and dreary. It is far from the ideal place to store an animal exhibit. Hetty feels like an unwanted presence, the subject of the master’s and staffs’ disdain.

Inexplicable and frightening things begin to happen immediately. A stuffed jaguar disappears along with an ivory collection. A display case of hummingbirds is broken with birds missing. Some of the exhibits have been moved or rearranged. Mysterious sounds disturb her sleep and she feels there is a stalker lurking in the halls. Or is it a ghost? She is unnerved when the lord and household staff blame her for being careless and overdramatizing for attention.

She becomes friends with the fragile Lucy, and they develop a secret, romantic relationship. Hetty realizes the animal exhibits are in a precarious state, being damaged by mice, insects, the cold and dampness. Her duty is to move them to more suitable surroundings, but she fears being regarded as a failure, losing her job with the museum, but above all does not want to be separated from Lucy whom she loves.

There were stretches in the book where nothing much was happening. The pace picked up towards the end. The prose was lyrical at times, but there were passages that I felt were too florid and overwrought. I found it difficult to identify who was narrating the early chapters because both women sounded alike. Some of the dialogue seemed from Victorian times rather than the era in which the book was set. I wish I had felt more connected with the characters.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Desi (Pastel Pages) · Rating 2 out of 5]

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 it but I wanted to know if the ending would be worth it. But to me, sadly it wasn't.

[Neale · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 assistant keeper, is to look after them.

In 1939, it is still very much a man’s world, and Hetty would not normally have been given the position. However, most of the men have been conscripted for the war and Hetty has the qualifications and experience, if not the gender.

Hetty, an orphan, was adopted at a young age. A “replacement” for the three sons that her parents had lost in the Boer war. She has always felt that she was a disappointment to her parents, especially her mother. Even making it into Oxford University was not an achievement for her mother, not compered to finding a husband.

“When your father and I allowed you to remain at university it was with the understanding that you at least find yourself a husband, however meagre his standing might be. I shall hear nothing more of this nonsense. Call me when you are engaged”.

Lucy is the daughter of Major Lockwood the owner of the manor. And in his words, is a delicate, anxious girl, prone to nightmares in her childhood, nightmares that have returned with the car accident that killed her mother and grandmother.

Hetty and Lucy although having nothing in common, and coming from completely different worlds, strike up an unexpected and strong friendship almost immediately, a friendship; or something more?

Not long after arriving at the manor, Hetty finds a bewildering, and to Hetty at least, alarming sight. In the drawing room an old worn kitchen knife has been stabbed at least an inch deep into a side table. Hetty is quite perplexed by the knife.

Large, almost empty, manors, are always conducive to a “spooky” atmosphere and that is most definitely the case with Lockwood Manor. It almost seems an unwritten law that there must be a haunted room and with Lockwood it is the purple room. A maid tells Hetty that the room is cursed and that guests who have slept in the room have heard strange sounds in the night. To make matters worse Hetty is the only person staying in the entire east wing of the manor.

The perspective will change from Hetty to Lucy, and this will become a regular occurrence. Most of Lucy’s chapters involve Lucy pondering her childhood and upbringing, which we find was quite horrid, her mother traipsing the line between sanity and insanity like a tightrope. From Lucy’s perspective we learn why she is the way she is. The reader will find that things are much darker than they seem. The devil woman, spirits, hauntings, all part of the family’s curse according to Lucy’s dead mother.

Throughout the novel the reader is constantly reminded, of the spirit, the ghost of the woman in white. The ghost who haunted and hounded Lucy’s mother. The existence of the shade a question asked repeatedly but never answered. Healy leaves the reader in the dark, adding to the atmosphere. Is the ghost real; or simply the delusions of a woman slipping deeper into madness?

Upon finding out about these hauntings and spirits, Hetty starts to have nightmares in which a beast of unknown origin is chasing her through the manor. Sometimes it is not a beast at all but a woman with the claws of a beast. Is this the woman in white?

Then the animals start to disappear. First a jaguar goes missing, nowhere to be found in the sprawling manor. A few days later some hummingbirds are gone the glass to their cabinet smashed. But things will soon get worse.

Another novel that does not feel like a debut. The writing is excellent and provides the right touch of atmosphere and description. This is a wonderfully haunted, spooky tale, and I feel that fans of authors such as Laura Purcell will enjoy this novel. I know I will be looking for other books by this author.

A book to read on a cold stormy night. Is that the start of rain pattering on the window? It sounded more like somebody’s fingers tapping. 4 scary stars.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

”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 possibility of people lurking inside them – truants, intruders, spirits.”

I loved the cover art on this one, but I’m not quite that shallow as to have bought it for that! Another historical novel, I’m reading quite a few of those at the moment. This one is set during the Second World War. The main protagonist Hetty works at the Natural History Museum. A large part of the taxidermy section is moved to the country for safe keeping. It ends up at a large rambling country house called Lockwood Manor and Hetty is sent to look after and manage the collection. Lockwood Manor has a large collection of servants and a few alleged ghosts. The residents also include the owner Major Lockwood and his daughter Lucy. The stage is then set for a sort of queer gothic mystery as odd things happen at the Manor. There are certain similarities to Sarah Waters. The chapters alternate between Hetty and Lucy’s point of view. This is also a first novel. The whole is a slow burn and things do take a while to come to fruition.
There is plenty of “atmosphere”, secrets, nightmares, paranoia, stuffed animals being moved about the place, women in white flowing dresses wandering corridors at night (no tropes there), a cruel lord of the manor, devious servants, walled up rooms and much more. The house itself is also a significant aspect of the book:

”The house seemed to encourage wandering, hunting – the long corridor of its first floor, with the wall sconces leading you forward, the tall windows, the neat condition of each room that a dozen servants tended to; the hidden service stairs waiting to be found; the narrow warren of the servants’ floor; and above all the vacuum of life, the absence of people in the rooms that had been so lovingly prepared for them.”
On the whole I found this fairly innocuous, easy to read and mildly entertaining.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 things start to go missing. To the annoyance of the Lord of the manor who thinks Hetty is a silly woman that makes things up. The only allies in the house is the daughter Lucy who she brief relationship with.
This is a beautifully written tale and it is written with a lot of description of the Manor and animals. And I enjoyed the first half of this book. But I found this book to be slow and started getting to lose the will to carry on. For me personally I thought it was too slow that I started skipping parts in the last 30% of this book because I was waiting for more, but it didn’t deliver. 3 stars from me.
Thank you NetGalley and Pan Macmillian for a copy of this book.

[Meags · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 the peaceful countryside, both for Hetty and her precious museum collection, unexpectedly leads to many inexplicable mysteries unfolding around her, including peculiar sounds in the night, visions of a white dressed figure in the halls, and, most disturbing to Hetty herself, the constant tampering of her animals displays, which leaves her baffled and incensed.

Hetty’s many questions and continual frustrations lead to run-ins with the Lord of the Manor himself, Major Lockwood, whose arrogance and chauvinistic attitudes towards Hetty prove problematic at best. But as Hetty tries to solve the mysteries of the Manor, while doing all she can to protect the animal exhibit in her charge, she finds herself undeniably drawn to the lady of the Manor, Lord Lockwood’s sensitive and troubled daughter, Lucy.

This period-piece drama had an atmospheric gothic feel to it, but it wasn’t nearly as creepy or as mysterious as I first presumed it would be; which is fine, just unexpected. What did stand out though, was the strength and beauty of the writing itself, particularly surrounding the vivid imagery created throughout, effortlessly capturing a strong sense of character, place and time.

I also appreciated the natural development of the relationship between Hetty and Lucy — two lonely and misunderstood women, longing for companionship and a sense of purpose, and finding it in the blossoming friendship, and later, in the budding romance they shared together.

Overall, I thought this was a beautifully written story, if somewhat less enthralling in plot than I may have first hoped. Despite my expectations, this was a solid debut from new author Jane Healey, and I’d definitely be interested to read more from her in the future, wherever her writings may take her.

[Chelsey (a_novel_idea11) · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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 Lockwoods recently suffered a tragedy when Lord Lockwood’s wife and mother died in a car accident.

Hetty and the animals move into the manor and almost immediately strange things begin happening. First, the jaguar vanishes. Then, animals seem to move to new locations throughout the night. Rumors of the manor being haunted are whispered amongst the servants. Details of Mrs. Lockwood’s madness and Lucy’s night terrors and nervous personality come to light. Overwhelmed by the amount of work, isolation, and never ending damage to the animals she must try to mitigate, Hetty wonders if the house is making her mad too.

Dark and surprising, the Animals at Lockwood Manor was a fast read that transported me back in time. The details of the manor and exotic beasts were perfectly relayed and the descriptive writing wove beautiful imagery. Absolutely recommend!

Thank you BookishFirst and the publisher for a copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

[Diane S ☔]

Throwing in the towel. Just not holding my interest in any way shape or form.

[Barbara K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another RL book club selection. There is some overlap in reading tastes among the three of us, but there is no question that I read a lot more in genres like Gothic and SF than I would if left to my own devices!

This book started out strongly enough, with a description of Hetty, a young woman who has achieved a lifetime ambition of having a position at the Natural History museum given the shortage of men available to fill those positions during WWII. She is put in charge of a large collection of taxidermied mammals that are being relocated to a country manor for safekeeping during the blitz.

The manor is large (92 rooms!), and its inhabitants fill classic Gothic roles - the domineering owner, his emotionally fragile daughter, a controlling housekeeper, and tales of a ghost. As this was all set up, the book moved along with good pace.

Unfortunately it slowed down about halfway through. Certain themes were acted out repeatedly and lost steam in the process, although the romantic elements were handled quite well. I anticipated parts of the ending, but a key element blew by me although the clues were there. Props to the author for that!

The tone of the book came across as a bit odd. The language had a 19th century feel, to the extent that I had to frequently adjust my mental images of the characters to allow for women wearing trousers. There was some heavy-handed symbolism, starting with the name of the manor, and including lots of references to dead animals, stuffed or otherwise.

One final comment for listeners: the story is told from the first person perspective of the two women protagonists, and the narrator didn't seem to make any effort to distinguish their voices. I'm pretty good at picking up on sudden changes in character or location in audiobooks and haven't found the need to comment on narrator-induced confusion previously. But at times in this book I had Lucy's and Hettie's voices mixed up on a number of occasions.

The opinions of this book among the 3 members of our group varied widely, and as one of them noted, it sparked more discussion than any book we've read in a long time!

[Vicky · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 appears to be haunted by a vengeful woman in white, and the lady of the manor, Lucy, who is herself haunted by terrifying dreams- and maybe something more.

Let’s be frank: I loved this book. It’s gorgeously written, and completely atmospheric. Healey has such a great eye for character and for setting, and you really feel like you’re there with Hetty, creeping through the corridors of the manor in search of the person or thing that’s taking her animals. It’s all deliciously creepy, but what leavens the oppressiveness is the beauty of her budding relationship with Lucy. It’s delicate and shy, and develops completely organically; even better, it’s a lovely complement to the story rather than its focus.

And the creep factor is creepy indeed. Mysterious handprints on the glass, dolls found under beds, dark secrets hidden in Lucy’s psyche and especially the menacing presence of her father all combine to give this book a really uneasy feel. You’re never entirely sure what’s real and what’s imagined, so the happy ending comes as a real (and welcome!) surprise.

A book for anybody who loves (or hates) taxidermy and haunted houses, this should definitely make it onto your Hallowe’en reading list…

[Sheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

“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 mother - a deeply troubled, clearly mentally unwell woman terrified of a “woman in white” only she can see - and grandmother were recently killed in an accident. Lucy herself is haunted by strange dreams and fears of something monstrous stalking the house. And when Hetty and her animals arrive, more strange occurrences accompany them: animals inexplicably move or even disappear.

Lucy’s mother Heloise, the mad wife from the West Indies, evokes echoes of the first Mrs Rochester, and indeed, Hetty herself, a young woman largely alone in the world, has some similarities with Jane Eyre, even describing herself at one point as “poor and plain”. There are other similarities, too. But there’s certainly no love affair on the cards with the master of the house, although this is a love story.

Although Hetty asserts she doesn’t think of her animals as alive, this is never entirely convincing - early on, for instance, she refers to them as “muffled and blinded” by their wrappings for transport to the Manor. Her litany of names is hypnotic at times: the okapi, the platypus, the hummingbirds’ nests, the polar bear, the Sumatran tiger, the white-tailed mongoose, the capybara, the giant golden-crowned flying fox...

The Animals at Lockwood Manor is an entrancing, unsettling and ultimately very satisfying read... I loved it.

[Claudia - BookButterflies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Knappe 3*
Der Klappentext klang so vielversprechend und die Sprache der Autorin hat mir gut gefallen, doch leider hat sie meiner Meinung nach zu viel dahinein investiert und sich dann in zähen Passagen verloren, welche die Geschichte nicht voran brachten.

Die Idee hatte Potential, ohne Frage, doch weder mystischer Grusel stellte sich bei mir ein, als immer mal wieder Exponate verschwanden oder verrückt wurden noch konnte mich das große Familiengeheimnis so richtig überzeugen. Es wirkte zum Ende etwas überhastet.

Die Liebesgeschichte dagegen war überraschend und hat mir deshalb gefallen. Queere Aspekte hätte ich nämlich nicht erwartet.

Alles in allem ein „nettes“ Buch. Kein großer Aufreger, aber eben auch nicht aufregend. Schade, dass es kein Highlight war, denn jetzt muss es aus meiner Sammlung ausziehen, dabei ist das Cover so hübsch :)

[Sal at The Ginger Feather · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 soon as the collection arrives, pieces start to disappear. Hetty is treated with disdain by the housekeeping staff and by Lord Lockwood, but manages to find support from Lucy, the daughter of Lord Lockwood. As the story progresses, we follow Hetty's experiences navigating life in the manor, whilst simultaneously trying to uncover the truth behind the strange disappearances of pieces from the collection....

This isn't just an atmospheric mystery. The characters have a depth that had me wanting to know more about each one, even the pretentious Lord Lockwood. I couldn't wait to discover the reasons behind the behaviour of the staff, and I was gripped to learn about Lucy's life growing up in Lockwood Manor. We view Lucy from Hetty's viewpoint, feeling what she feels towards her, and learning the sad secrecy that people were forced into to hide their relationships. I didn't want to put this book down - as the dark secrets of Lockwood Manor were slowly exposed, I was absorbed into the world.

As the tension built throughout the story, I was torn between expecting a happy ending or a sad one, I just didn't know how it would turn out! Thanks to the beautiful descriptions and the way Hetty cares for her exhibits, I felt almost as protective towards the animals as Hetty towards the end, which made the events in the book even more climactic. I just loved this book - it was right up my street, a little spooky, very evocative, and with a sense of tension and foreboding building throughout, which I loved. A really, really good book.

[Jess · Rating 1 out of 5]

Brava, designers at Pan Macmillan. Bravissima! You fooled me again.

I am at a loss to identify the merit in this one. Uninspired prose saturated with references to goosebumps, racing hearts, and the feeling of being watched does not equate to the pulse of a gothic thriller.

The Animals at Lockwood Manor is a lackluster wannabe. The plot is slow off the mark, meanders like a petulant public schoolboy, and never achieves anything. Honestly, a story this simple should not take the wrong side of three hundred pages to tell. The narrative is achingly derivative and could be neatly summed up in a sentence. Nothing happens.

The War plays no true role or purpose in the novel, only as an enabler – and maybe some lukewarm threat to spice things up a bit, god knows nothing else does. The characters are bland and so indistinguishable as to be forgettable. Hetty the protagonist is entirely unmemorable and the only mildly interesting character, Lucy, frequently leans towards stereotype. Any relationship that develops is difficult to invest with credibility, let alone emotional investment.

The ‘mystery’ is entirely uncompelling, unsurprising and unoriginal. The resolution similarly is rushed, hazy and convenient. I appreciate that this one made an attempt at something of a feminist sentiment, but quite honestly, Hetty’s thoughts on one MCP does not quite cut it for me.

Disappointing. Another time I thank my bookseller discount that I didn’t pay full price.

[E.H. Alger · Rating 4 out of 5]

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!

[Sarah-Hope · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 guess most of what is to come—but that sense that you know this trope doesn't keep The Animals at Lockwood Manor from being engaging. Jane Healey knows how to bring characters alive. She has a pitch-perfect ear for dialogue. The unseen menace she paints with her words is unsettling enough that you'll want to finish this title before going to bed for the night.

The historical setting is a bonus here. As the novel progresses, we see the myriad ways the war affects ordinary lives. We also get hints of the class tensions that are emerging—and that will reshape post-war Britain.

Very highly recommended.

I received a free electronic review copy of this book from the publisher via EdelweissPlus. The opinions are my own.

[Gemma · Rating 1 out of 5]

This might be my most disappointing read for 2020 and feels like a waste of a brilliant idea for a story. My dislike for this book is due to two main reasons.
Firstly, the writing style is "telling rather than showing" which, particularly for a book that is trying to tell a gothic and mysterious story, does not create an atmosphere at all. We are told that the manor house is creepy and strange but not shown why, we are told that the Lord of the manor's daughter Lucy is lovely and sweet but not shown why our main character Hetty believes this from the moment they meet etc...
Secondly, the character of Hetty is insufferable. I thought I might warm to her as the story went on but she is arrogant and nosy throughout e.g. she believes that she (a guest) should have the keys to all the rooms in the manor and control where the Lord of the house can go, she believes it is her right to know everything about the history of the house and the people in it and, my favourite example, she claims that trying to keep the animals safe at the manor is more difficult than what the whole of London are facing during WW2.
Some readers seem to have really loved this book so they clearly found something in it to enjoy but this book irritated me to no end (as you can probably tell!).

[Dayle (the literary llama) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Around 2.5 Stars. It’s not a horrible book, it just felt a bit aimless. There was a little bit of this and a little bit of that, not quite committing to a tone or story. It wasn’t enough.
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The words were beautiful when describing the setting. But building the mystery and maintaining any suspense was choppy or dull. It was in turns slow and repetitive. You just couldn’t quite tell what this book was aiming to be.
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I never connected to either of the main characters. The style in which they spoke and interacted with their surroundings created a wall between them and the reader. And while some efforts were made, I felt a lack of greater development in their characters. There was something missing, it was all too confined.
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While it had a promising cover and synopsis, it wasn’t worth the read.

[Natalie Jenner · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 history museum, and the damaged voice of the lone heir to the estate, an enigmatic woman who recently lost both her mother and grandmother in a car accident, and must now contend with her brutish and domineering father all on her own. As the attraction between these two women grows, the world about them becomes increasingly suspect and dangerous, keeping the reader guessing as to what is really going on. That guesswork is resolved with a most satisfying conclusion to all the pent-up yearning, suspense and drama that has come before. Highly recommended for anyone looking to disappear into the highly-charged drama of WWII, historical fiction, and gothic tales.

[4cats · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 of Lockwood Manor.

This novel is part love story and part mystery, it deals with the fading aristocracy, dark family secrets, women breaking free from the bonds which society place on them and hidden love.

An atmospheric novel which reminded me of The Miniaturist in how it looks at the life of women.

[Marcella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Een favoriet boek voor mij betekent geen perfect boek, maar wel een boek waarvan de leeservaring er met kop en schouders boven de anderen uitspringt. En precies dat vond ik De dieren van Lockwood Manor, mijn eerste favoriet van 2022: een fantastische leeservaring.

Het plot van dit boek is al een beetje af te zien aan deze prachtige geïllustreerde cover, een oud landhuis omringt door een selectie van zeldzame vogels. Het is augustus 1939, en om de waardevolle collectie van het Natuurhistorische museum in Londen te beschermen van de dreigende bommen, krijgt de dertigjarige Hetty Cartwright de taak om de collectie te evacueren naar Lockwood Manor. Hoewel Lockwood Manor in de eerste instantie nog de perfecte bewaarplek lijkt voor de zeldzame collectie, bekruipt Hetty al snel het gevoel dat hier iets niet helemaal pluis is. De driftbuien van Lord Lockwood en een plaag van ratten en muizen houden haar wakker, en als er dieren dan ook nog eens spoorloos blijken te verdwijnen weet Hetty helemaal niet meer waar ze het moet zoeken.

En dan is er nog een tweede ik-perspectief van de dochter van Lord Lockwood, Lucy, wie schrijft over alle donkere hoekjes van het huis en een geest die door de gangen dwaalt…

Jane Healey hanteert in haar debuutroman een prachtige, beeldende pen. Zelfs met lange zinnen en een volle bladspiegel was ik gekluisterd aan de bladzijdes en zwierf ik ook even door Lockwood Manor. Een gevoel van onbehagen bekruipt de lezer vanwege de aanwezigheid van iets wat niet per se te zien maar wel te voelen is, maar tegelijk blijft Healey ook dicht bij de werkelijkheid. De dieren van Lockwood Manor is niet alleen een boek over een mysterieus huis, maar ook juist over de (oneerlijke) positie van de vrouw in deze historische periode en hoe twee vrouwen hierin een weg naar elkaar vinden.

Fantastisch, intrigerend en sfeervol. Fans van Sarah Waters; hier moet je zijn!

“Ze is hier,’ zei ze dan, terwijl de tranen over haar wangen stroomden. ‘Ze heeft me gevonden.’ Waarop ik me met een bonkend hart omdraaide in de veronderstelling dat er achter mij een hongerige, wilde geest stond te wachten.”

[Thebooktrail · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

The creep factor is there from the off. Some VERY effective scene setting from the off. You could imagine yourself creeping around the old house yourself, the floorboards creaking, the moonlight shadows on the walls as you walk, the idea of seeing the eyes of that dead creature as you walk past it. Does it’s eyes move? Well, that’s what I was imagining.

The story is slow but well-paced and there’s little clue of what’s happening inside that house. I was transfixed by Hetty and her relationship with those in the house, the person in particular which was an interesting, almost subplot. I would have liked to know more about this as there’s much more to know! The old major, the frightened daughter…..all greatly drawn and memorable characters. The daughter especially acted strange and you just knew there was something not quite right there…..

All these threads pulling at your interest as you read…

The scene setting, oh the scene setting drew you in gradually throughout and it’s all so vivid and expertly paced. I may well go to the Natural History museum now and imagine these animals to be the ones that may have been sent out to manor homes before war broke out. If these animals could talk…(shiver)

Gothic mystery fans are going to feast on this. There’s some dark threads in this novel – all yours to discover – but keep your eyes on where those animals noses are pointed and what their eyes are looking at….

[Ellery Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

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, bogging down the middle section, and I wanted more from the final reveal. All that being said, Ms. Healey's use of language is lovely, and look forward to reading her future works.

[Tina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointing. A Dickens quote comes to mind: "there are books of which the backs and covers are by far the best parts".

[MaryannC Victorian Dreamer · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.