Book Review
The Dark Library by Mary Anna Evans
Mystery | Historical Fiction | Gothic
Secrets are rampant in the small town of Bentham-on-Hudson, but perhaps nowhere more so than Estella Ecker’s childhood home, Rockfall House. Returning home and taking up a teaching position at the local college, Estella searches for answers to her mother’s mysterious disappearance. But what really happened that day? And will these lingering questions and secrets affect E’s future too?
Historical novels are my favourite, and I love that The Dark Library gives us the tension of a mystery set shortly after the US joined WWII. With the sudden absence of young men, Estella is granted a teaching position but struggles with the limitations set upon her by society. Throughout the novel, we see E fight to stretch food rations and cover expenses on her limited income, and I really enjoyed seeing the 1940s homefront as the backdrop for this mystery.
With its opening line, “I suppose there are more soul-destroying places to die than at the foot of an ivory tower, but I can’t think of many,” this book grabbed me from the start. The writing style felt moody and dark, sucking me in. With a turreted castle for a college, a family library full of secrets, and a house set on a crumbling cliff, The Dark Library had all the promised gothic academia vibes.
Estella’s character is determined and smart, and I particularly loved her relationship with her housekeeper, Annie. Her quest for answers about her mother had a slower start, but the worldbuilding was well done and the suspense slowly built to the final crescendo of reveals. While some information drops felt a little abrupt, the mystery was fun and kept me guessing until the very end.
For fans of setting-rich, historical mysteries with modern-gothic overtones, The Dark Library is one to add to the TBR!
Recommended for:
Historical mystery fans
This post contains affiliate links; as an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Advance copy of the book provided courtesy of the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press. All opinions expressed are my own.
About the book:
(From the publisher): Estella Ecker has returned to Rockfall House, the last place on earth she wants to be. Years after she ran away from her overbearing father, she has been forced back home to walk in his footsteps, teaching at the college he dominated and living in the fabulous home where he entertained artists and scholars for decades―and perhaps she owns it now, because her mercurial mother has disappeared. At the center of everything―the whispers, the rumors, the secrets―is her father’s library of rare books, which she had been forbidden to touch while he was alive to stop her.
Everyone in town is watching Estella, with her dead father’s name on their lips, and no one seems to care about her missing mother. Who were her parents, really, and is the answer hidden somewhere in the depths of Rockfall House? And who will Estella be, if she gathers enough courage to find that answer? What she will discover is that no one can escape the secrets hidden in this dark library.
Suspenseful and unsettling but ultimately triumphant, The Dark Library by acclaimed author Mary Anna Evans is a compelling tale of mystery, family secrets, and the quest for truth.