Inheritance often comes with strings attached, but rarely are they as tangled as those hanging over High Hearth.
When Eudora Fellowes learns she’s the sole heir of her estranged great-aunt’s seaside manor, she believes it will be the peaceful escape she’s longed for. What awaits, however, is a dark legacy shrouded in half a century of secrets, and it doesn’t take long before Eudora realizes she’s not the only one to call High Hearth home.
Title: Inheriting Her Ghosts | Author: S.H. Cooper | Publisher: Sleepless Sanctuary Publishing | Pub. Date: 07/09/2021 | ASIN: B0977PL7BB | Pages: 120 | Genre: Horror | Language: English | Source: Received from the author/publisher for review consideration | Starred
Inheriting Her Ghosts Review
Inheriting Her Ghosts is a novella-length ghost story with a Gothic flair to it. A woman who ill fits the societal times she was born into. An old maid at the ripe old age of 43. After inheriting her aunt’s home, High Hearth, she moves in with no hesitations. Eager to begin life anew among people who don’t know her she soon finds herself embroiled in the mystery her aunt left behind and a house that might have come with more than Eudora bargained for.
I really liked the characters in the book. Eudora was a very believable and likeable character. She’s not inhumanly strong but also has moments of doubt. Her strength makes sense for the time period and her willpower in not caving to society. Mr. Bentley was also a very good character and easy to like.
Of course, the real scene-stealers were Black Shuck and Cerberus, a pair of wolfhounds that reside with and protect their mistress. They are the secondary characters of the novel and they warmed the cold little cockles of my heart.
The ghosts were creepy and had personality, even before it was fully revealed who they were. Cooper does an amazing job of building suspense and leading up to the final confrontation. Each ghost has a distinct personality and actions associated with them. No mean feat given the short length of the work. Inheriting Her Ghosts also does an excellent job at showing certain individuals from multiple angles, such as Lord Parsings and Mrs. Bell.
The plot moves along quickly and doesn’t drag at all. Which may sound easy to pull off in a short work but, I can assure you, it is not. The house is described well. I could picture to and the grounds early. It also weirdly made me want to help Eudora tidy it up for her.
Now, for the… well, not bad, just some things that nagged a bit at me. The time period was a bit hard to place. From context I guessed somewhere between 1900 and 1913 (I assumed no later than that since WWI wasn’t mentioned). The language, at times, felt a bit overdone but as long as it’s not egregiously so (which Inheriting Her Ghosts was not) I tend to not get too hung up on it since period writing can be very hard to pull off.
Inheriting Her Ghosts was a good read with an actually surprising ending that I honestly didn’t expect. It posed an interesting moral question (though I’m not quite as empathetic as Eudora) and was an angle I hadn’t seen before.
Highly recommended!
While this book is available at major retailers, in the interest of supporting indie bookstores, we recommend purchasing from Indiebound.org or from the Sci-Fi & Scary Bookshop. (Disclaimer, we do receive a small cut of the profits if you purchase from Bookshop, which goes toward supporting the site.)
GracieKat was the first co-host of Sci-Fi & Scary, Lilyn’s partner-in-crime, and sub-head of the Kali Krew. She reviews horror books, movies, and games for the site. She also does a weekly Focus on the Frightful feature, and is the site list-maker. She is also in control of the Sci-Fi & Scary podcast which will relaunch soon.
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