It would be a new start – a reincarnation of sorts.

Hannah Murphy faces an uncertain future. Her aunt was dead and soon, strangers would take possession of the only home she had ever known.

When a letter arrives informing her she is the sole heir to an unknown uncle’s estate, the news seems like a Godsend.

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Days later, she finds herself on the road to New Orleans, her life in Richmond quickly fading.

Upon her arrival, she feels she has stepped into the pages of a modern-day fairy tale. However, she soon learns that in this fairy tale not all that glitters is gold.

The Lincoln House has its own rules–written and bound by blood. Will she be able to fulfill the terms of the inheritance? Why had this family been kept a secret?

My Review

The Lincoln House is written over a number of timelines, the main ones being Hannah in 1980 and her mother Jessica twenty five years earlier. Hannah was just a baby when Jessica was killed in a tragic accident and was brought up by her mother’s sister, Rose, in a house in Richmond, a town 1,000 miles away from the Lincoln House estate.

When Rose dies, Hannah is left with almost nothing and survives on her salary as an art teacher. But then she receives a letter informing her that she has inherited her uncle’s house – an uncle she didn’t even know existed. But there are strict rules and terms which she must accept, but being homeless and almost penniless, she feels she has no choice.

She packs up her meagre belongings, resigns from her job, and drives to hot, humid New Orleans, where she will have to live in the Lincoln House. It is here that she discovers that only women can inherit the estate, and that her uncle was merely the caretaker. She also ‘inherits’ the ghastly housekeeper Maud, the dodgy solicitor Basil, best friend of her even dodgier uncle, and must have her portrait painted for the Lincoln women’s gallery, and be introduced to the local community during a lavish gala.

She meets the young, attractive Lucius and falls in love. But can she trust anyone? She tells him about the sounds and the voices and the ‘ghosts’ she sees by the swamp, but he dismisses them as the noises that are always present in old houses.

This is the third novel by this author that I have listened to as an audiobook, and I love the whole Southern Gothic genre, though I feel the spookiness could have been more pronounced. I definitely preferred modern Hannah’s timeline and felt I wanted to move on from Jessica in particular.

One thing that will always remind me of this book is the song that Hannah hears in the swamp. Down to the River to Pray was popularised by Alison Krauss in the George Clooney film O Brother, Where Art Thou? in 2000, though it is attributed to George H. Allan in the Slave Songbook of 1867, which is appropriate for Black servants Harlan and his sister Ruthie.

As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that good old way
And who shall wear the robe and crown
Good Lord, show me the way!

O brothers let’s go down
Let’s go down, come on down
Come on brothers let’s go down
Down in the river to pray

Listen on YouTube

Many thanks to @ZooloosBT  for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the Author

L.B. grew up in a one stop-light town in central Idaho. After earning a Bachelor of Art’s degree in cultural anthropology from California State University-Chico, she uprooted herself to begin a new life in Washington, D.C., where she began a varied career in professional communications in private business and education.

“I’ve always had a passion for photography, travel, writing, and history. I am thrilled to now be creating works of fiction that allow me to share these passions with others. One of my favorite parts of the writing process is the historical research required to bring authenticity to my characters’ lives.”

This is her fifth book and the second in her standalone series: Tales from the Parlor Room – a collection of Gothic and ghostly tales. She currently resides in Virginia where she enjoys cemetery walks, visiting abandoned and haunted places and working on more ghostly tales.

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Book Links

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Purchase Link: www.amazon.co.uk