Kate Mosse

The clock strikes twelve. Beneath the wind and the remorseless tolling of the bell, no one can hear the scream . . . 1912. A Sussex churchyard. Villagers gather on the night when the ghosts of those who will not survive the coming year are thought to walk. And in the shadows, a woman lies dead. As the flood waters rise, Connie Gifford is marooned in a decaying house with her increasingly tormented father. He drinks to escape the past, but an accident has robbed her of her most significant childhood memories. Until the disturbance at the church awakens fragments of those vanished years . . .

The Taxidermist's Daughter

Sussex, 1912. In a churchyard, villagers gather on the night when the ghosts of those who will die in the coming year are thought to walk. Here, where the estuary leads out to the sea, superstitions still hold sway. Standing alone is the taxidermist's daughter. At twenty-two, Constantia Gifford lives with her father in a decaying house: it contains all that is left of Gifford's once world-famous museum of taxidermy. The stuffed birds that used to grace every parlour are out of fashion, leaving Gifford a disgraced and bitter man. The string of events that led to the museum's closure are never spoken of and an accident has robbed Connie of any memory of those days. The bell begins to toll and all eyes are fixed on the church. No one sees the gloved hands holding a garotte. As the last notes fade into the dark, a woman lies dead. While the village braces itself against rising waters and the highest tide of the season, Connie struggles to discover who is responsible - and why the incident is causing memories to surface from her own vanished years. Does she know the figure she sees watching from the marshes? Who is the mysterious caller that leaves a note without being seen? And what is the secret that lies at the heart of Blackthorn House, hidden among the bell jars of her father's workshop? The Taxidermist's Daughter is the stunning new novel from the multi-million copy bestselling author, Kate Mosse.

Lindsey

I really enjoyed this book, I was bit hesitant having found her earlier book Labryinth a bit hard going. But I was drawn into the plot of this book and the atmosphere of the fens and Connie and her search for the truth and her memories. 

I liked her 'love interest', though it wasn't over exaggerated and didn't detract from the story but did at times feel he could have been a little better drawn, as could some have the characters. I seemed to find that the female characters were more well defined as characters overall, except perhaps the exceptions being Davey and Connies father though this may have been due to the fact that through Connie we understood her father more as they shared similar passions, and despite his drunkenness and general behaviour I never once disliked him and I in fact found Connies distrust of him strange, but perhaps as the reader we knew more? 

It was definitely Gothic and eerie, but I have read eerier books, I would say 'haunting' is more apt the haunting of the past in the present. 

But it was a good solid read that I blazed through on holiday and I would recommend, though I can see why other reviewers are less enthusiastic. I think the bleak, emotionless style of the prose and hesitancy of the characters suited the tone and style of the book overall.

The Taxidermist's Daughter

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