Abigale Hall has the feeling of a traditional Gothic horror, but it’s also a stirring piece of historical fiction. Set in 1947, England is still reeling from the aftermath of WWII. Orphaned sisters Eliza and Rebecca live with their aunt and struggle to survive in London amongst sever rationing, poverty, and few prospects. After a disagreement, their aunt sends them to work as indentured servants at a mysterious, decrepit estate in Wales.

This was an interesting mix of genres, and the mood is palpable throughout. The story begins with Eliza and Rebecca living their lives in post-WWII London. Things are miserable and difficult – and while I haven’t done any fact-checking, from what I knew previously about post-War London, this story seems fairly accurate in its depiction. Abigale Hall adeptly captures and communicates that misery, and how things were doubly difficult for women.

After a fight with their aunt, Eliza and Rebecca are sent away to Thornecroft Manor in Wales to work as servants. It’s here that most of the suspense comes into play – it builds with an intensity that had me on the edge of my seat.

The mood of the story also switches to a feeling that was reminiscent of Rebecca or Jane Eyre – a creepy, run-down manor that’s well past its glory days, haunted by dark secrets that the main character can feel creeping upon them. To top it off, they’re surrounded by a bleak, misty and cold countryside. I was living for this setting, and you could cut the atmosphere with a knife. I felt every increase of stress that Eliza went through.

The story is told through two POVs. Eliza, a 17-year-old forced to be mature beyond her years. She looks after her troubled 12-year-old sister Rebecca – it becomes quickly clear through Rebecca’s counting rituals and snappy temper that she is more difficult that your average preteen. Both of the girls have trauma, not only from the War, but from the loss of both their parents as well.

The second POV follows Eliza’s boyfriend, Peter, who is determined to find out where Eliza was taken. He simply can’t believe she would up and leave with no world. I was glad for Peter’s POV, because at the beginning, I wasn’t sure how much he actually cared for Eliza. Through his eyes, we also go deeper into the realities of post-War London. It lent a gritty, murder-mystery vibe to the story. I was rooting for Peter every step of the way.

Every character in this story is deeply flawed in some way, and literally no one is who they seem. I was surprised at some turn by nearly every character, even our narrators, who slowly reveal the truth about themselves as the story progresses. They were all delightfully unlikable, yet each had their moments where I did like them and was cheering for them.

The suspense is delicious throughout Abigale Hall, and there are tons of clues, symbolism and red herrings that kept me on my toes and trying to theorize what the truth was. Ironically, once it finally got to the big reveal, I was a little bit let down. The suspense winds up to a fever pitch that was so intense, the reveal paled in comparison. Though of course it was adequately horrifying and I wasn’t fully able to guess what it was going to be, I had enjoyed the journey much more than the destination.

Overall, I’m really glad I decided to go back through my older NetGalley approvals and give this one a go. It was extremely atmospheric with complex, flawed characters. I was left craving for something that would leave me with a similar feeling. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a story with a classic Gothic feel.

Love the cover of this book and it drew me in right away. Such a great story and I’m looking forward to reading more from the author in the future.

Amid the terror of the Second World War, seventeen-year-old Eliza and her troubled little sister Rebecca have had their share of tragedy, having lost their mother to the Blitz and their father to suicide. Forced to leave London to work for the mysterious Mr. Brownwell at Abigale Hall, they soon learn that the worst is yet to come.

This book had a bit (a lot) of everything I love. It had mystery, history, horror, suspense...and I loved every minute of it.
The author sets the gothic atmosphere and takes you on a terrifying journey from start to finish.
I loved the writing, the setting, the pacing. I truly enjoyed every bit of this book. I even loved the characters, even though they're not the sort of characters I would usually tolerate.
100% recommend if you enjoy dark stories.

Abigale hall by Lauren A Forry.
A brilliant read. Great story. Not what I expected at all. So eerie. I loved the cover. 5*.

This is a case of a book trying too hard. Ghostly gothic meets madness, with a wide conspiracy allowing the craziness to run rampant. The story dragged and dragged on. Lots of violence, and far too many nightmares used to generate tension and scares.

I’m always on the lookout for a modern, (recently released), pure Gothic tale, meaning all the great Gothic ‘must haves’ are present and accounted for, such as : the large manor house, the strange housekeeper, some supernatural element or grotesqueries, and the brave young lady who must fight off the forces of evil in one form or another.

I really wanted to love this book. I started out that way. I even wanted to include an extra half star. It's creepy with an odd cast of characters. Because there are plot twists and surprises along the way, I won't go into details. (I despise when a review takes that element away from me as a reader.) There are good guys and bad guys, helpful and not-so-helpful characters. Author Lauren Forry sometimes kept me guessing as to which was which. There were also moments when I was telling the characters, "No. Don't do that." But they refuse to listen.

These tales never have your "happily ever after" ending; but, I think it was satisfying. I was sad and resigned and glad and accepting. Read it for yourself and you'll discover what I mean. Just don't read it at night.

Abigail Hall’s synopsis is very interesting. However, this book did not really catch my attention. It’s an okay read. I do not hate it but I do not like it. Honestly, I had to reread the first chapters before I could continue. I almost DNF this one but I still gave it a chance. But, it’s a complete disappointment. I thought I would enjoy this one. This book is not for me.

"Amid the terror of the Second World War, seventeen-year-old Eliza and her troubled little sister Rebecca have had their share of tragedy, having lost their mother to the Blitz and their father to suicide. Forced to leave London to work for the mysterious Mr. Brownwell at Abigale Hall, they soon learn that the worst is yet to come. The vicious housekeeper, Mrs. Pollard, seems hell-bent on keeping the ghostly secrets of the house away from the sisters and forbids them from entering the surrounding town—and from the rumors that circulate about Abigale Hall. When Eliza uncovers some blood-splattered books, ominous photographs, and portraits of a mysterious woman, she begins to unravel the mysteries of the house, but with Rebecca falling under Mrs. Pollard’s spell, she must act quickly to save her sister, and herself, from certain doom.

Perfect for readers who hunger for the strange, Abigale Hall is an atmospheric debut novel where the threat of death looms just beyond the edge of every page. Lauren A. Forry has created a historical ghost story where the setting is as alive as the characters who inhabit it and a resonant family drama of trust, loyalty, and salvation."

I hunger for the strange! I also adore that cover.

Creeptastic! I love the creepy house, the gothic vibes, and the weird housekeeper. A great, unique, strange story, my favorite kind.

This book had an interesting story line about two sisters, a boyfriend, and a CREEPY old house! I am personally a huge fan of anything that can give me the heebie-jeebies, and the descriptions of the house did that! Overall, however, the story-line ended up falling a little bit flat for me towards the end, or a little on the un-believable side.

After having survived World War II and the death of their parents, Rebecca and Eliza are shipped off by their aunt, forced to work as domestics in a creepy old house in Wales, far away from everything they know and the few people they love. To make matters worse, there is something off in the house and the little village that surrounds it. The young girls who have served as domestics have either died or disappeared over the years. The townsfolk tell stories of the house being haunted, living in fear of all who live there. What happened to the previous girls and what will happen to them? Is the house truly haunted or is something more nefarious at work?

Almost immediately, I thought of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. No denying the story’s gothic feel, and that is certainly a selling point for me. I’m a sucker for a good gothic mystery. And this definitely qualifies as good. Not Rebecca or Wuthering Heights good, but good.

My favorite parts of the book: the backstory and build up of tension were excellent, and the ending was not what I expected. As the story progresses, we learn more and more about the girl’s earlier lives, how their father died, why they ended up in their aunt’s care, and how she came to be so changed. The web that is weaved is particularly complex and compelling and more than once I found myself wondering if my assumptions were anywhere near the truth. Until the very end, I never had a full handle on the full nature of the mystery – in some cases I knew a who (or two), but not the why. I love it when I don’t get it.

My least favorite parts of the book: while the ending came at the right time (I was on the edge of feeling like I was ready for it to be over), it unraveled all of a sudden, and somehow, all that tension spilled away like a knocked over glass of milk. The dark drama that is part and parcel of gothic mystery suddenly felt a bit like a caricature. However, once the primary mystery was solved, the appropriate mood was restored and the story ended on the right note.

Overall, a really enjoyable read, and a great reminder of how much I love gothic as a genre.

Making a note to reread Rebecca and Wuthering Heights and find the latest and greatest in gothic right now…

I enjoyed reading this story so much. To describe the book as strange does not suffice the oddities and occurrences in this story, but even with those aspects, the story was written beautifully. Filled with suspense and terror, you are definitely able to feel for the main characters and connect with them much better. The storytelling was great, really keeps you wanting more.

This book is full of dreams and madness.

That sounds like it could be great, doesn't it?

Well … no.

A common piece of advice for aspiring writers is "never start a book with a character's dream". And Lauren A. Forry didn't. However, after a little while it seemed as though every other chapter began with a dream. Another fairly common piece advice for everyone is "your dreams are always much more interesting to you than to anyone else in the world". By the third or fourth time a chapter opened in the middle of Eliza's nightmare, I rolled my eyes. By the fifth or sixth time I was frankly disgusted. This was another time I was constantly on the verge of quitting, but kept reading because I wanted to know how it all would be wrapped up.

Someday I'll learn that it usually isn't really worth it.

The other part of my first line, madness, was something else that started to inspire disgust by the time I got through the book. By the end this book was starting to look like a DSM-5, a psychiatric diagnosis guide. I'm sure I've used the comparison to salt before in a review: some is good, and more is never better. This was just all much too much.

The other reason I kept going was that the writing had some merit. The gradual – <I>very</i> gradual – revelation of what happened to Eliza's family, and the unspooling of how Abigale Hall got to be the place of horror as described in the book was handled well, for the most part.

But characterization was not terribly strong – Eliza's love, Peter, was a bit like a paper doll being moved through the plot, and the bad guys were straight out of central casting for any 60's gothic. And the madness lapping at just about everyone's knees and splashing about on all the walls and ceilings left lots of questions throughout as to who was trustworthy and who was not. Done well, of course, this sort of uncertainty adds to the atmosphere of a creepy gothic novel. Not done well, it can cause whiplash.

And in the end the pain and aberrant behavior and horror – and dreams and madness – proliferated to the point that it became rather pointless, and … I'm tempted to use the phrase "torture porn", especially since a great deal of the aberrant behavior and horror is focused around a young girl. After chapter upon chapter of <i>oh no she's not – oh, she did</i>, I became jaded, until the big climax of the story landed with a blood-soaked thud. It was like the most brutal five episodes of Criminal Minds in which children are involved, the ones I will never ever watch again, balled together and distilled down to take out the enjoyable character moments. And I found the ending completely unsatisfying, and not something that justified ploughing through the whole book.

The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review.

"Abigale Hall" is a very well written mystery novel. I really liked the supernatural elements and the reveal at the end. Eliza and Peter are interesting and well-rounded protagonists. I really liked both of their storylines and their respective character development. Eliza's storyline and her slowly starting to doubt her senses was really well done.
The only thing I didn't like was the ending. It was a little too exaggerated for my taste, but the set-up was really good and the epilogue was really haunting.

The whole story is steeped in mystery and intrigue. It is very obvious from when both sisters arrive at Abigale Hall that things are not quite right and Eliza does her best to get to the bottom of it all.

The house obviously holds some dark secrets and I have to say I had absolutely no clue as to what it was and was as shocked as Eliza when all is revealed.
A great read ....
Thanks to the Author Netgalley and Publisher

I personally could not find myself to read very far into this book without completely losing interest, as much as I appreciate being given the opportunity to read it, I unfortunately could not get into it. The beginning had just dragged and dragged with not much happening at all and I feel like the author didn't try sucking the reader in where it's most important to. Majority of people always make a decision if they are going to like a book or not based on at least the first 5 to 7 chapters (depending how long the chapters are, which in this case they were decent sized) and I actually forced myself to try to keep reading passed even that point, but ultimately I could not force myself to read much more pass that limit without starting to put myself in a reading slump (and every reader knows that is one of the worst things that could happen to us!).

Loved the cover of this novel! The synopsis drew my attention, but unfortunately it didn't really hold my attention. It could have just been me, as I had a lot going on at the time.

Leaning HEAVILY on Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca and the movie Crimson Peak, Abigale Hall really took me by surprise.

Eliza and Rebecca live with their terrible Aunt in post war London. Aunt Bess sells them to a mystery person and they are quickly taken out of London and away from everyone and everything they know.

Rebecca has clear mental issues and Eliza is miserable. What happens is somewhat predictable but not SO predictable that I wasn't engrossed and entertained. This kind of books appeals to a certain type of reader....one who enjoys mysteries, giant houses, mysterious housekeepers and a curious type of narrator. Luckily, that kind of person is me.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and Lauren Forry for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for this review.

Set in the dark days of WW2- children disappearing, scary big house, creepy house keeper! Seems like a perfect book! Well no- the end is a let down! But along the way you do feel anxious, scared, the atmosphere is palpable. Ending could have made this perfect but a perfectly serviceable read.