Clare Marchant – She Reads Novels

This is my second Clare Marchant book, following The Alchemist’s Secret which I read earlier this year. It’s also my favourite of the two – although I enjoyed both books, I found this one darker, more atmospheric and more gripping. Although I’m often critical of dual timeline novels (which this is), I thought that format worked quite well here as the modern day character has a well developed storyline of her own rather than just providing a frame for the historical thread.

The first chapter sets the tone for the rest of the book as Angel drives through a heavy sea fog on her way to stay with her brother on the North Norfolk coast. Convinced first that an animal of some kind is running along beside her car and then that the vague, murky figure of a human is actually inside the car with her, Angel begins to question why Dan has chosen to live in such an isolated, unsettling place. His home is a converted barn on the outskirts of Saltmarsh, a ruined village abandoned during an outbreak of plague in the 17th century and although Angel had wanted a quiet place to escape from her personal problems for a while, this isn’t quite what she’d expected.

In 1665, however, Saltmarsh is still a busy, thriving village. Margery has just arrived there in search of her mother who left their home in nearby Kelveton five weeks earlier to visit her other daughter who lives in Saltmarsh. She never returned, so Margery has decided to walk to the village herself to look for her – but she’s not prepared for what awaits her there. Her sister is dead and no one can tell her what has happened to her mother; in fact, the villagers are so hostile, Margery is sure they know more than they’re admitting. Lodging with Bridget and Anne, two healers who live just outside Saltmarsh, Margery is determined to get to the bottom of her mother’s disappearance, but when bubonic plague reaches the village, Margery is blamed for bringing the disease with her in the form of the mythical black dog, Black Shuck.

Black Shuck – who, depending on the legend, can be either a malicious demon or a protective creature – appears in both the historical and present day threads of the novel. Other pieces of Norfolk folklore are also woven in, such as the legend of the Lantern Men, marsh spirits associated with ghostly lights and the sound of whistling. I found the book genuinely creepy in places and although there are rational explanations for some of the things that happen, others aren’t fully explained, leaving a sense of the supernatural. There are also lots of vivid, evocative descriptions of the Norfolk coastal landscape with its treacherous marshes, all adding to the atmosphere.

Although Margery’s story was more exciting, it was interesting to see Angel uncovering the secrets of Saltmarsh. I liked the idea of symbols carved into the altar of the ruined church describing what happened in the village and Angel trying to interpret them – at first I thought it seemed a bit too convenient that anyone would do that, but then I remembered that of course there are real cases of what’s known as ‘historical graffiti’ recording important events. There are several other things tying the two narratives together as well. First, there’s a mother/daughter theme in each one. Angel, who was abandoned as a baby and adopted by two loving parents, has been contacted by a woman claiming to be her sister; Angel now has to decide whether to meet her (and potentially get to know her biological mother) but is struggling with the decision. Meanwhile, Margery, who has lost her own mother, finds that her new friends, Bridget and Anne, have become as close to her as family. There’s also a hint of romance for both Angel and Margery, but I liked the way it was only briefly touched upon in both cases, rather than becoming a big part of the plot.

I’ll look forward to Clare Marchant’s next book and will try to investigate some of her earlier ones as well.

Thanks to Boldwood Books for providing a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.

Reviewed for RIPXXI hosted by @perilreaders

The Alchemist’s Secret is the story of two women separated by four centuries but linked through one house – Woodham Hall in Suffolk. In 1672, Jeanne is living at the Hall with her older sister, Marie, and young niece, Hélène. Jeanne is still unmarried at the age of twenty-four and looks set to remain a spinster, but she doesn’t really care. She’s happy devoting her time to painting and practising her alchemy skills, and there’s no money for a dowry anyway. Marie, on the other hand, is very unhappily married; her husband, Sir Robert Woodham, is having an affair with a widowed neighbour who has given him the sons Marie has been unable to provide. Eventually, Sir Robert decides to move his mistress into the Hall and tells Marie and Jeanne he is sending them to a convent in France where they will stay for the rest of their lives.

Back in their home country – the two women had left France ten years earlier, when Marie married Sir Robert – they are determined to find a way to escape from their captivity and get back to England and Hélène. Their adventures take them to the court of the Sun King where they make some new acquaintances whom they hope can help them take revenge against Sir Robert and resume their rightful places at Woodham Hall.

Meanwhile, in 2026, we meet the current residents of Woodham Hall – Simon and his daughter, Paige, who has just returned home after the break-up of her marriage. Simon has been hiring the house out as a wedding venue but is starting to struggle financially and is in need of new ideas. Paige begins to research the history of the Hall and the Woodham family and comes across an intriguing painting which seems to depict a poisoning which took place in the house centuries earlier. But who was the artist – and, more importantly, who were the victims and why were they killed?

I liked The Alchemist’s Secret, although it’s yet another example of a book with dual timelines where most of the drama unfolds in one of them, leaving the other feeling a bit superfluous. The 17th century storyline dominates this book and I found it by far the most interesting. The plot was slightly far-fetched at times and there were moments when attitudes or actions didn’t quite ring true to the period, but otherwise I was much more absorbed in Jeanne and Marie’s story than I was in Paige’s. I loved the parts of the book set in Paris and at the Palace of Versailles (which is still under construction in 1672 – no Hall of Mirrors yet) and I thought this made a good contrast to the English country house that forms the setting for the majority of the novel.

There’s not a lot of mystery involved, as it’s obvious that the events depicted in the painting are connected to the historical storyline, but I enjoyed seeing how the characters get to that point and how things play out afterwards. I’m not sure if the title is really representative of the novel, though; alchemy is barely mentioned, although it doesn’t matter too much as the story is interesting enough even without it! This is the first book I’ve read by Clare Marchant but I’m planning to read her new one, The Curse of the Saltmarsh Girl, and am tempted to try some of her others as they all sound intriguing.

Thanks to Boldwood Books for providing a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.