A debut novel for fans of Sarah Perry and Kate Morton: when a young woman is tasked with safeguarding a natural history collection as it is spirited out of London during World War II, she discovers her new manor home is a place of secrets and terror instead of protection. In August 1939, thirty-year-old Hetty Cartwright arrives at Lockwood Manor to oversee a natural history museum collection, … museum collection, whose contents have been taken out of London for safekeeping. She is unprepared for the scale of protecting her charges from party guests, wild animals, the elements, the tyrannical Major Lockwood and Luftwaffe bombs. Most of all, she is unprepared for the beautiful and haunted Lucy Lockwood.
For Lucy, who has spent much of her life cloistered at Lockwood suffering from bad nerves, the arrival of the museum brings with it new freedoms. But it also resurfaces memories of her late mother, and nightmares in which Lucy roams Lockwood hunting for something she has lost.
When the animals appear to move of their own accord, and exhibits go missing, they begin to wonder what exactly it is that they might need protection from. And as the disasters mount up, it is not only Hetty’s future employment that is in danger, but her own sanity too. There’s something, or someone, in the house. Someone stalking her through its darkened corridors . . .
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In 1939, as World War II threatens the city of London, steps are being taken throughout the city in an attempt to safeguard and evacuate what scientific, historical and cultural collections they can. Hetty Cartwright is assigned the task of escorting and watching over the mammals from the natural history museum in their new home: Lockwood Manor. Hetty, viewing this as an opportunity to prove her worth, as well as the worth of women in general, soon discovers that this assignment will not be an easy one. Soon after her arrival, Hetty discovers that the atmosphere in Lockwood Manor is not only unconducive to the preservation of her mammals, but to the preservation of her mental heath as well, especially when specimens begin to move and disappear. The only solace Hetty seems to find is in her friendship with Lucy Lockwood, Lord Lockwood’s daughter. As the war progresses, and tensions rise, Hetty finds herself in a battle that threatens everything that she, and Lucy, holds dear.
This book surprised me in a lot of ways. While I don’t wish to spoil anything, the plot had some twists and turns that I did not see coming, and others I did see coming but not the circumstances surrounding them. I really like that the main character is not only a strong female, but she is a strong female during a time when women really were viewed as the weaker sex, throwing out the expectations placed on her by society. The descriptive language used by Healey throughout the novel is splendid, especially the descriptions of the animals and Hetty’s feelings towards them, as well as the emotions brought about by the house.
Thank you to Bookish and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for an ARC of The Animals at Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey, given in exchange for an honest review.
Jane Healey has created an eerie puzzle box of a book and a gothic in the tradition’s best sense. A fading great house filled with taxidermy is the perfect backdrop for Healey’s facile atmospheric prose, which brings to mind both Sarah Waters and Sarah Perry. Tense, broody, romantic and subversive, The Animals of Lockwood Manor is a deeply consuming read and a fantastic novel to get lost in.
The Animals At Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey is an epic historical read in the gothic tradition. I found it a curious blend of Jane Eyre and Rebecca as passions consumed various inhabitants. Lockwood Manor was reminiscent of Mandalay as the house took on a personality all of its own.
In true gothic style, the novel was creepy. I was never quite sure what was real and what was imagined. Emotions were twisting this way and that as the hairs on my neck rose.
The darkness of the setting mirrored the atmosphere… an old house with many rooms blacked out during World War II. Long, dark corridors, strange goings on at night and unusual figures all added to the mystery. Past influences very much intruded on present lives.
The characters were well drawn and elicited various emotional responses from the reader. The book is written in the first person from two alternating points of view so we get to know two characters intimately.
The Animals At Lockwood Manor was a consuming epic read where passions loomed large. It was a marvellous debut novel from Jane Healey.
A word of caution: some of the content surprised me and I was not totally comfortable with it. There are some adult scenes which some readers may not like.
I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.
“The Animals of Lockwood Manor” by Jane Healey was not what I expected. The description of the novel really caught my attention: set in 1939 during WWII; a history museum collection of animal exhibits, taken to a manor for safekeeping and mysterious happenings within the manor. But, I was a little disappointed how the story read. The novel was slow-paced, not really escalating to what I thought would be a page turner. There were so many unnecessary descriptions of the manor and animals that I actually skipped paragraphs to get through to the next page. I guess my emotions with this novel were frustrated and underwhelmed. I just didn’t connect with this book like I wanted.
Hetty and Lucy are the main characters that tell the story. Hetty, the museum’s curator is charged with protecting all the museum exhibits at Lockwood Manor. Lucy, the daughter of Lord Lockwood, is emotionally unstable, perhaps from something that happened in her past. Some of the museum’s animals are missing or have been relocated, but by what or whom? Hetty struggles to maintain control of the museum’s exhibits as events in the manor escalate rapidly. Will she be able to save the museums specimens?
I really love to read and enjoy all kinds of books from mysteries to thrillers but this book was a wrong fit for me; plus I wasn’t the right audience for the romance portion of the book. I wanted to like this book and I know many others will enjoy it. Jane Healey has a bright future as an author. The book cover is absolutely beautiful! I applaud Jane for writing this novel to help readers understand the importance of our history museums. They absolutely need to be protected, so we can remember and connect to our past for generations.
~This book was given to me in a giveaway in exchange for a fair and honest review.~
I was lucky enough to receive a advanced copy of this book from a giveaway on goodreads and it was a great book, I love most book set during war times and I can admit ive read ALOT and have never read a book like this! Im not for romance but this was really good, didn’t really have sex scenes and stuff so that’s always a positive for me!
I really liked the characters and the story and how the story played out, this book was hard to put down and interesting from cover to cover.
speaking of covers I love the cover! I have a physical copy of this book and its so much more than just pretty colours! It just, feels awesome?
This was a really great book, and id recommend it and plan in rereading it hopefully lol
I hadn’t read anything by this author before and when I began checking for previous work, I find out this is her debut novel! So we’re both starting at the beginning of her career so to speak. Before I start the review on the storyline itself, let me just say that this book has nothing to do with WWII, only using it as a reference point in time. That being said, it was wonderfully dark and intense. Chocked full of mystery. Jane Healey has written an original debut novel that tweaks the gothic genre and has echoes of Wuthering Heights. Instead of the heroine falling for the dark, inscrutable lord of the manor, she goes for the Lord Lockwood’s daughter, Lucy. Hattie seems to fit with the Jane Austen’s ideal of a discounted, vulnerable woman who stands up for herself and what she believes to be right. I enjoyed the world-building she has created as well as the internal dilemmas her main characters face. Told from the viewpoints of Lucy and Hattie, the plot moves forward to a thrilling ending. This novel was a great read and I look forward to her continued success.
Ummm. This was interesting. I’m still kind of confused as to what the actual plot was, what the genre was and where exactly it went. There were a lot of side stories that were all kinda tossed together, with no real big plot.
Wins:
-the lesbian slow burn romance was cute. It was however very slow and over dramatic at times
-I loved the classification of animals and how Hettie would name people by animals, that was interesting
-Hettie was okay. She was super eccentric about the animals, which was kind of annoying, but Lucy was mentally disturbed and very interesting
Opportunities
-as mentioned, I don’t know what the actual plot was.
-what the whole Mary thing? Why did she so openly despise Hettie for no reason? She was a super random character until she was needed. I didn’t like it
-TOO MANY SIDE STORIES
all in all, this book was okay. I don’t know what genre it falls under, it’s supposed to be like a World War 2 historical fiction, but WW2 plays such a small role, I don’t want to classify it as that, it’s not a romance, it’s kind of a mystery. Its confusing. I hate to just kinda rip on someone’s hard work and writing, but I liked this book until I really really didn’t like it and just wanted it to be over. I don’t know who this is geared towards. Read at your own risk I guess?
It is 1939 and Hetty Cartwright arrives at Lockwood Manor to oversee a natural history museum collection, whose contents have been taken out of London for safekeeping. She is unprepared for the scale of protecting her charges from party guests, wild animals, the elements, the tyrannical Major Lockwood and Luftwaffe bombs. Most of all, she is unprepared for the beautiful and haunted Lucy Lockwood.
As a little girl, my Dad and I visited the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. I always had a creepy feeling that the animals and statues would come alive and touch me!
So I was excited to have won this novel from BookishFirst! The author has a beautiful way of describing the environment and characters to make the reader feel a part of the story!
Hetty’s life has been wrapped up in the museum, so when they are forced to move the exhibits in fear of the war that is closing in, Hetty is glad to go with it. But the Lord is a force to be reckoned with, he’s rather unreasonable and he certainly doesn’t see Hetty as an equal. His daughter Lucy would make a great ally for Hetty, but Lord Lockwood doesn’t want Hetty and her animals scaring his already sensitive daughter. But animals are disappearing and Hetty’s concerns fall on deaf ears, brushed off as obsessive and hysterical.
The first thing that drew me to this book was the time period and I loved that there would be a mystical sort of element to the disappearances of the animals. Healey did a wonderful job of building up the mood. The setting was perfectly creepy, a mansion with more rooms than a person could need, with dark nooks and crannies to get lost in. The characters were of varied backgrounds and I appreciated that Healey was inclusive with her characters as well.
For me, the book got a bit repetitive in the day to day 3/4’s in, and I wasn’t as engaged as I had started off. The suspenseful aspect didn’t deliver as much as I felt it would when I first became so engaged. But I think overall, this was a fun read, Hetty was a unique character, driven by a life of feeling unwanted that gave her a sort of obsession devotion to the animals, to prove herself worthy. Overall a fun read.
The Animals at Lockwood Manor is a debut historical fiction novel. It takes place in England during the second world war. Hetty Cartwright is tasked with moving animal specimens from the Natural History Museum collection to a manor in the countryside to protect them from the German air raids. Shortly after moving to Lockwood Manor, Hetty realizes all is not quite right with the inhabitants of the manor. The novel is well-written, tense, and atmospheric. The author skillfully builds the suspense, culminating in the motive for hosting the zoological collection and the revelation of multiple secrets. There is also a romance intertwined with the plot and, although important, is not the main focus of the story. It was highly readable and difficult to put down.