Synopsis
Aubrey Farringdon knows he made a monumental mistake in his first marriage, but when he marries Nancy Gillimore he believes that this time it will work. All is well until they return to Aubrey's Dorset home. Thrown into conflict with Aubrey's mother and his teenage children, Nancy is drawn to the secrecy of the bluebell pool, where Aubrey's first wife, Augusta, had been discovered with a lover. Nancy becomes obsessed by Augusta - and through the pages of Augusta's diary and Nancy's encounters with the gamekeeper, Powers, a disturbing story of lust and betrayal unfolds.
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From Publishers Weekly
In her most assured novel yet, Sully (The Shingle Beach) perceptively explores the effects of suppressed sexuality, the class system and the changing position of women on British society in the early 20th century. On the eve of WWI, strong-minded Nancy Gallimore, 18, marries above her station and age group, but her Pygmalion-like romance with world-famous explorer and writer Aubrey Farringdon, 44, begins to fracture when he takes her to his ancestral home of Midwinter. There, as Nancy tries to cope with a combative mother-in-law and snobbish stepchildren, she sees her marriage begin to founder on the mysterious death and life of Aubrey's first wife, the gorgeous and adulterous Augusta. The mystery of Augusta, preserved by Aubrey's daunting mother and an attractive gamekeeper, and centered on a local quarry pool of profound yet sinister beauty, remains unsolved even after Nancy finds and reads Augusta's disturbing diaries. Will the terrible secret of the Farringdons destroy Nancy's chances for happiness? (There are certainly echoes of DuMaurier's Rebecca here.) While some readers may be intimidated by Sully's formal prose, and though Nancy doesn't show quite enough character growth, the novel is, overall, suspenseful and engaging.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
This novel opens predictably enough with naive, 18-year-old Nancy Gillimore marrying the rather paternalistic explorer Aubrey Farringdon, a gentleman above her in years, class, and education. The newly married couple travels to Aubrey's estate, the aptly named Midwinter, where Nancy is faced with her husband's snobbish mother and hostile children, as well as memories of the first Mrs. Aubrey Farringdon, the unfaithful yet much lamented Augusta. As Nancy matures into a character the reader likes and respects, she discovers Augusta's diaries and gains insight into her husband even as their marriage begins to fail. Set in England just prior to and during World War I, this novel will be enjoyed by readers who like their romance spiced with a little mystery and suspense. Recommended for public libraries.
Elizabeth Mellett, Brookline P.L., Mass.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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