Carr is the pseudonym for Victoria Holt, a prolific, rather dull, but popular writer who often employs a Gothic theme in her stories. Here, the time is the late 1930s. Violletta, the narrator, tells of a period when she and her twin Dorabella led privileged lives in upper-class Britain. The sisters are briefly parted after the flighty, impulsive Dorabella ends a whirlwind courtship by marrying Dermott, a wealthy young man from Cornwall. His isolated, seaside estate is haunted, some say, by the ghost of his first wife who drowned while expecting their child. Stock characters abound in this slow-moving story. Not much happens until the end, which is disappointing and not very believable. Keep in mind that there will be demand for this book because the author has a loyal following. Paperback Book Club main selection; Literary Guild alternate.-- Patricia Altner, Dept. of Defense Lib., Bolling Air Force Base, Washington, D.C.
Plodding and predictable, this novel set in pre-WW II Britain sports the classic gothic trappings of a castle wherein stalk madness and murder, but little of the brooding tension needed to make such elements thrilling. Violetta and Dorabella Denver, aristocratic 17-year-old twins, are visiting friends in Germany when they meet a romantic Cornishman named Dermot. Frivolous Dorabella marries Dermot and takes up life in Tregarlands, his somber mansion on the isolated Cornish coast. But it is Violetta, the practical twin and narrator, who learns of the gruesome legend that haunts Tregarlands and discovers that Dermot's pregnant first wife mysteriously drowned. After Dorabella bears a son, disappears and is believed drowned herself, Violetta sets out to solve the riddle of her sister's fate, with a solution quickly becoming obvious to readers. Carr's ( The Changeling ) latest suffers from an uninspired plot, stilted and repetitious dialogue, colorless and unsympathetic protagonists, the absence of a compelling hero and anemic love relationships. Doubleday Book Club selection; Literary Guild alternate. (May)
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