Book review: The House of Light and Shadows by Lauren Westwood
Genre: Historical mystery
Upcoming release date: February 18, 2025
Goodreads rating: 4.03
My rating: 5
This post contains affiliate links that earn us a commission at no cost to you. This helps to support the work of The Bookish Bulletin.
The House of Light and Shadows by Lauren Westwood follows Kate, a NY attorney, who is called upon to go care for her niece and nephew while her estranged sister recovers from an injury. Upon arrival in their small town, she discovers that the circumstances of her sister’s injury are mysterious—possibly ghostly. She soon meets a few townspeople who, in my opinion, feel a little bit suspicious from the start.
The story takes place in a dual timeline. We follow Ada and her sister Camile in the late 1800s, as well as Kate and Emma in modern day. Both sets of sisters struggle with a rift that pulled them apart, and both are trying to mend this rift. This connects the two timelines.
The book starts off strong… I was quickly drawn into the story and found that Westwood set the atmosphere of the old haunted Victorian-era house very well. This house—Rookswood House—quickly felt like a character in itself to me.
The story flowed at a good pace and a few twists and turns kept the mystery interesting. I quite enjoyed how the book delved into the art of Victorian-era photography… l learned quite a few historical facts about this art.
This book is part mystery, part ghost story, part family drama… with a bit of romance. I found that it did the mystery-ghost-drama portions very well but the romance, in my opinion, distracted a bit from the story. But for those who enjoy a dash of romance, this will bring the right mix to the book.
Fair warning that there are a few macabre moments to the story but overall, I quite enjoyed this book.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read an eARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.