The Lodger - BookWyrm

Hardcover, 384 pages

English language

Published March 23, 2023 by Quercus.

ISBN:: 978-1-5294-0759-4

(1 review)

This second novel from the author of The Deception of Harriet Fleet takes us back to the aftermath of the Great War in another haunting, atmospheric Gothic tale.

London in 1919 was a city of ghosts and absences, haunted by the men who marched away but never came back from 'the war to end all wars.'

Grace Armstrong believes that she has come to terms with her own loss, the death of her fiancé, the brilliant and dazzling best friend of her brother. He was declared Missing in Action during the Battle of the Somme, but he starts to reappear both in her waking life and dreams.

Grace is appalled when a body, dragged from the Thames, is identified as Elizabeth Smith, who has lodged with Grace and her family for the last eight years before suddenly disappearing.

Elizabeth had been more than a lodger; she had become a close …

This second novel from the author of The Deception of Harriet Fleet takes us back to the aftermath of the Great War in another haunting, atmospheric Gothic tale.

London in 1919 was a city of ghosts and absences, haunted by the men who marched away but never came back from 'the war to end all wars.'

Grace Armstrong believes that she has come to terms with her own loss, the death of her fiancé, the brilliant and dazzling best friend of her brother. He was declared Missing in Action during the Battle of the Somme, but he starts to reappear both in her waking life and dreams.

Grace is appalled when a body, dragged from the Thames, is identified as Elizabeth Smith, who has lodged with Grace and her family for the last eight years before suddenly disappearing.

Elizabeth had been more than a lodger; she had become a close friend to Grace, who feels compelled to find out what happened. In doing so she is drawn reluctantly into the sordid and dangerous underbelly of London and a scandal that rocked Edwardian society. Soon Grace finds herself under threat, and the only person prepared to listen is the brooding Tom Monaghan. But Tom has dark shadows of his own to navigate before being able to put his past behind him to help Grace in her quest for the truth.

1 edition

tomas0772 reviewed The Lodger by Helen Scarlett

A rivetting Gothic mystery

5 stars

Gothic literature would, I imagine for some, be a genre confined to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, yet it has always continued, albeit predominantly in the background of the preponderance of mainstream fiction. However, there has been a revival (of sorts) of this rather unique genre during the past few decades with some of the more well-known books being televised and even film versions being produced. With this revival, some great new books have been published, including The Lodger, by Helen Scarlett, released in March 2023.

The Lodger is Helen Scarlett’s second novel (following The Deception of Harriet Fleet in 2020) who, once again, delivers a tale of mystery and intrigue set amid a gothic atmosphere set amid a period of mourning in 1919 following the First World War.

Following the story of Grace Armstrong, a journalist for a small paper, mourning the disappearance of her fiancé at the Battle …

Gothic literature would, I imagine for some, be a genre confined to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, yet it has always continued, albeit predominantly in the background of the preponderance of mainstream fiction. However, there has been a revival (of sorts) of this rather unique genre during the past few decades with some of the more well-known books being televised and even film versions being produced. With this revival, some great new books have been published, including The Lodger, by Helen Scarlett, released in March 2023.

The Lodger is Helen Scarlett’s second novel (following The Deception of Harriet Fleet in 2020) who, once again, delivers a tale of mystery and intrigue set amid a gothic atmosphere set amid a period of mourning in 1919 following the First World War.

Following the story of Grace Armstrong, a journalist for a small paper, mourning the disappearance of her fiancé at the Battle of Ypres, and led on an investigation following the mysterious disappearance of the lodger residing at the family home. What follows is a journey which will lead Grace to self-discoveries of her own past, the intrigue of a mystery from the past and her realisation of the ghostly presence of loved ones lost to the war.

One of the main attractions of The Lodger is not only a good story, but the characters are both identifiable and sympathetic, with Scarlett’s narrative making the story even more believable by making the characters, the scenes, and the story perfectly believable. With this re-emergence of Gothic fiction's prevalence to the modern reader, The Lodger will sit firmly at the top of the genre, with great storytelling from an author at the top of her game. There is so much to The Lodger that I actually felt compelled to buy Helen Scarlett’s first novel!