Dunmoor by London Clarke (Tuesday Intros & Teaser Tuesday)

 

Title: Dunmoor

Author: London Clarke

Publication: 29 November 2021

Format: Kindle ebook

Amazon Description: 

England, 1818. Lady Helena Winters hasn’t seen her husband in over a year—not since he disappeared without a trace. Torn between seeking a new purpose for her life and longing for her husband to return, Helena travels with her father to Dunmoor House for a fundraising ball. Although the estate was once her husband’s ancestral home, it has recently been purchased by Luke Lennox, a gentleman planning to establish a foundling hospital.

Helena quickly finds herself battling memories of life with her husband and searching for answers to what might have happened to him. Even so, she is drawn to Luke Lennox and his dream of saving and educating children—a passion she shares.

Within Dunmoor’s decaying walls lies a long and sordid history, a legacy of evildoers perpetrating unspeakable acts of wickedness. Now, the corridors echo with voices. Vines grow inside the house, and shadowy figures plague the children at night.

But in the dark forest on the edge of the property, a terrible secret awaits, and what Luke and Helena uncover there will endanger both their lives.

Ramble-y Teaserish Stuff

I cannot recall when I first became enamored with gothic literature and films and whatnot. I was probably quite young and I have a strong suspicion that on the film end, at least, WPIX had a lot to do with it thanks to weekend airings of Rebecca and The Ghost and Mrs Muir and such. My mother and grandmother, of course, each had shelves upon shelves of books and I was given free reign to just grab at random. When most of my friends were oohing and aahing over things like The Babysitters Club, I was losing myself in the pages of Agatha Christie and Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne. 

I was having a severe book slump this weekend. I went through multiple chapters of multiple books and absolutely nothing was clicking for me. I decided it would probably be best if I just went with something more reliable .... and gothic. My first thought, of course, was to grab my next Hester Fox. Unfortunately, I remembered that I was being forced into going to a mandatory holiday social thing at work and carrying around a paperback was probably going to be frowned upon. However, I could carry my phone as everyone else probably would be ... so I went snooping around Netgalley's Read it Now to see if anything would possibly satisfy the urge.

Then I saw Dunmoor. 

Oooooh that cover.

It clicked and I clicked the button before I even read the description. In fact, it wasn't until I started putting this post together that I bothered with silly nonsense like finding out what it's supposed to be about. That cover was enough to get me. It gets even better when the cover gets swiped to the left and the story begins. I still have a bit to go until I'm finished, but as of yet it's eerie and dark and spooky and mysterious with just enough romance to be able to say that it's there.

"First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros" is from the first paragraph or two

of a book being read now (or in the future) and is hosted by Socrates' Book Reviews. 

"Teaser Tuesday" at The Purple Booker asks for a random line or two
from anywhere in the book currently being read.