The Widow of Pale Harbor
by Hester Fox
Genre: Domestic suspense, historical, gothic
Imprint: Graydon House
ISBN: 9781525834264
Pages: 352
From the author of the buzzed-about THE WITCH OF WILLOW HALL comes an atmospheric follow-up novel set in historic New England, about a minister who takes a position in a small Maine town plagued by strange occurrences that resemble the stories of Edgar Allan Poe, and the woman--rumored to be a witch and a murderer--presumed to be behind them.
Maine, 1846. Gideon Stone is desperate to escape the ghosts that haunt him in Massachusetts after his wife's death, so he moves to Pale Harbor, Maine, where there is a vacancy for a new minister. Gideon and his late wife had always dreamed of building their own church, and Pale Harbor is the perfect opportunity.
But not all is as it seems in the sleepy town of Pale Harbor. Strange, unsettling things have been happening, and the townspeople know that only one person can be responsible: Sophronia Carver, a widow who lives with a spinster maid in the decaying Castle Carver on the edge of town. Sophronia is a recluse, rumored to be a witch who killed her husband.
When Gideon meets her, he knows the charming, beautiful woman cannot be guilty of anything. Together, Gideon and Sophronia realize that the mysterious events have one thing in common: they all contain an element from the wildly popular stories of Mr. Edgar Allan Poe. And when the events escalate to murder, Gideon and Sophronia must find the real killer, before it's too late for them both.
Favorite Quotes:
Tonight, she and Helen would eat a small supper in silence— they had few words left to say that weren’t old and stale, used up over the years…
If he was going to be an even half-convincing minister, he was going to have to curb his vulgar habit of cursing.
But then the conversation took an even more horrifying turn. “Are you married, Gabriel?”
Suspicion had followed her about like a cloud threatening rain…
This clever wordsmith is exceptionally skilled at creating and maintaining an eerie and smoky atmosphere that was taut with tension and unease yet pregnant with an odd and incongruent mixture of hopeful anticipation and nightmarish dread. Strange incidents, ghastly crimes, and gruesome discoveries were occurring at an advancing rate, it quickly became quite clear that something vile and sinister was settling over the narrow and backward little hamlet of Pale Harbor.
The elements of mystery and suspense were well-crafted and exceptionally well-paced as the creepiness factor zigged and zagged unexpectedly with sudden leaps and abrupt interruptions. I was riveted to my Kindle. And amid all these alarming and bizarre occurrences, a romance blossomed between the new minister who frequently swore and delivered abysmal sermons – although not at the same time - and the town outcast and suspected witch/murderess. It was divine. In addition to an engaging read and a day's worth of entertainment, I also gleaned new knowledge as I was compelled to consult Mr. Google about transcendentalism and Unitarianism, which apparently resulted in falling through a wormhole and losing track of a significant chunk of time, funny how that happens.
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