Ingrid
and her daughter Susan return to the Western Highlands of Scotland, staying at
Strathbairn with Gertrude McCleod while their new home, a cottage by the loch,
is redecorated. The very same day, the ghosts of Ingrid's past return when
Gertrude's brother Miles arrives with his new bride and his friend Timothy.
When her former beau turned betrayer Hamish starts work on a barn conversion,
Ingrid is desperate to leave Strathbairn. She rushes to move into the cottage
only to find she is sharing her new home with a violent ghost.
Realising the haunting is somehow connected to Strathbairn and sensing that
something at Willows Cottage must be returned, she makes every effort to
discover what that it is.
While Hamish and Gertrude conspire to force Ingrid into marriage, Timothy
becomes a regular caller with a romantic motive. With two suitors and two
marriage proposals, who will she choose - and can she solve the haunting of
Willows Cottage?
A gripping conclusion to a classic gothic mystery trilogy laced with dark
family secrets.
Review
This book offers strong characters, beautiful settings and an intriguing mystery. I love a good gothic mystery, and this is one. The author keeps the mood taut, dropping the right number of hints to drive you through the novel. Gothic horror is largely psychological and eerie, rather than more overt horror. For me, that's the sweet spot, but others might prefer more grab-and-stab than this novel provides.
This is part of a trilogy and I wish I had read the other books for a deeper understanding of the backstory and characters. So, consider reading these books in order for the best experience.
Purchase Links
UNIVERSAL BOOK LINK: https://books2read.com/u/mYJzVp
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FXJDKJQ3
APPLE BOOKS: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-haunting-of-willows-cottage/id6754550008
BARNES & NOBLE: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-haunting-of-willows-cottage-isobel-blackthorn/1148696029?ean=2940182364515
GOOGLE BOOKS: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=laCSEQAAQBAJ
RAKUTEN KOBO: https://www.kobo.com/ebook/the-haunting-of-willows-cottage
Author Bio –
Isobel
Blackthorn is an award-winning author of immersive and inspiring fiction. She
has penned over twenty-five books including a number of bestsellers. She majors
in strong female leads and empowerment narratives.
Among
her credits, Isobel’s biographical short story ‘Nothing to Declare’, which
forms the first chapter of her biographical novel Emma’s Tapestry, was
shortlisted for the Ada Cambridge Prose Prize 2019. One of her Canary Islands
novels, A Prison in the Sun, was shortlisted in the LGBTQ category of the
Readers’ Favorite Book Awards 2020 and the International Book Awards
2021. The Cabin Sessions was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award 2018
and the Ditmar Awards 2018. And The Unlikely Occultist: A biographical
novel of Alice A. Bailey received an Honorable Mention in the 2021
Reader’s Favorite Book Awards.
Blackthorn
is the author of the world’s only biography of Theosophist and mother of the
New Age movement Alice Bailey – Alice A. Bailey: Life & Legacy.
Isobel
has a background in Western Esotericism. She holds 1st Class Honours in Social
Studies, and a PhD from the University of Western Sydney for her
ground-breaking research on the works of Alice A. Bailey. Her doctoral thesis
has been downloaded over 13,000 times.
Isobel’s
first work, which she wrote in 2008, is Voltaire’s Garden. This
memoir is set in the mid 2000s and tells the story of building a sustainable
lifestyle B&B in Cobargo on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia,
which gained international attention when a firestorm razed the idyllic
historic village on New Year’s Eve 2019.
Isobel’s
writing has appeared in journals and websites around the world,
including Esoteric Quarterly, New Dawn Magazine, Paranoia, Mused Literary
Review, Trip Fiction, Backhand Stories, Fictive Dream and On Line
Opinion. Isobel was a judge for the Australasian Shadow Awards 2020 long
fiction category. Her book reviews have appeared in New Dawn Magazine, Esoteric
Quarterly, Shiny New Books, Sisters in Crime, Australian Women Writers, Trip
Fiction and Newtown Review of Books.
Isobel’s
interests are many and varied. She has a long-standing association with the
Canary Islands, having lived in Lanzarote in the late 1980s. A humanitarian and
campaigner for social justice, in 1999 Isobel founded the internationally
acclaimed Ghana Link, uniting two high schools, one a relatively privileged
state school located in the heart of England, the other a materially
impoverished school in a remote part of the Upper Volta region of Ghana, West
Africa. After working as a teacher, market trader and PA to a literary agent,
she arrived at writing in her forties, and her stories are as diverse and
intriguing as her life has been.
Isobel
has performed her literary works at events in a range of settings and given
workshops in creative writing.
British
by birth, Isobel entered this world in Farnborough, Kent, UK. She has lived in
England, Australia, Spain and the Canary Islands. She now lives and writes in
Spain. She is currently at work on two novels composed in Spanish.
Social Media Links –
https://www.facebook.com/Author.Isobel.Blackthorn/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5768657.Isobel_Blackthorn
https://www.instagram.com/isobelblackthorn/
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