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Beneath the Shadows
In this thrilling gothic suspense debut by Sara Foster in the tradition of Rosamund Lupton and Sophie Hannah, a young mother searches Yorkshire’s windswept moors for the truth behind her husband’s mysterious disappearance.
The answers are hiding Beneath the Shadows
When Grace’s husband, Adam, inherits an isolated North Yorkshire cottage, they leave the bustle of London behind to try a new life. A week later, Adam vanishes without a trace, leaving their baby daughter, Millie, in her stroller on the doorstep. The following year, Grace returns to the tiny village on the untamed heath. Everyone - the police, her parents, even her best friend and younger sister - is convinced that Adam left her. But Grace, unable to let go of her memories of their love and life together, cannot accept this explanation. She is desperate for answers, but the slumbering, deeply superstitious hamlet is unwilling to give up its secrets.
As Grace hunts through forgotten corners of the cottage searching for clues and digs deeper into the lives of the locals, strange dreams begin to haunt her. Are the villagers hiding something, or is she becoming increasingly paranoid? Only as snowfall threatens to cut her and Millie off from the rest of the world does Grace make a terrible discovery. She has been looking in the wrong place for answers all along, and she and her daughter will be in terrible danger if she cannot get them away in time.
Runtime: 9.66 Hours
The answers are hiding Beneath the Shadows
When Grace’s husband, Adam, inherits an isolated North Yorkshire cottage, they leave the bustle of London behind to try a new life. A week later, Adam vanishes without a trace, leaving their baby daughter, Millie, in her stroller on the doorstep. The following year, Grace returns to the tiny village on the untamed heath. Everyone - the police, her parents, even her best friend and younger sister - is convinced that Adam left her. But Grace, unable to let go of her memories of their love and life together, cannot accept this explanation. She is desperate for answers, but the slumbering, deeply superstitious hamlet is unwilling to give up its secrets.
As Grace hunts through forgotten corners of the cottage searching for clues and digs deeper into the lives of the locals, strange dreams begin to haunt her. Are the villagers hiding something, or is she becoming increasingly paranoid? Only as snowfall threatens to cut her and Millie off from the rest of the world does Grace make a terrible discovery. She has been looking in the wrong place for answers all along, and she and her daughter will be in terrible danger if she cannot get them away in time.
Runtime: 9.66 Hours
338 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
About the author
Sara Foster
13 books594 followersSara Foster is the bestselling author of eight works of fiction: THE HUSH, THE DECEIT (novella), YOU DON'T KNOW ME, THE HIDDEN HOURS, ALL THAT IS LOST BETWEEN US, SHALLOW BREATH, BENEATH THE SHADOWS, and COME BACK TO ME. Her work usually traverses the genres of contemporary psychological suspense, crime thriller, and family noir. THE HUSH, set in the near future, is her latest novel. Sara is passionate about developing strong women characters and female-led stories, She is currently studying for her PhD, looking at maternal representation in fiction with young adult heroines, and she lives in Western Australia with her husband and daughters.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 534 reviews
July 16, 2021
Adam hat von seinen Großeltern ein Cottage in Yorkshire geerbt. Gemeinsam mit seiner Frau Grace und der kleinen Tochter Millie zieht er von London in ein kleines Dorf im Moor. Doch schon kurz nach dem Einzug verschwindet Adam spurlos. Grace und Millie ziehen nach Frankreich zu Grace´ Eltern, doch nach einem Jahr kehren die beiden nach Yorkshire zurück. Grace möchte endlich Adams Unterlagen durchsehen und das Geheimnis um sein Verschwinden aufklären...
* Meine Meinung *
Das Buch hat mir sehr gefallen, auch wenn ich die Bezeichnung "Kriminalroman" unpassend finde. Ein Krimi ist dieser Roman für mich nicht. Dennoch ist das Buch durchgehend spannend, und es bleibt bis zum Ende hin offen, was mit Adam geschehen ist. Die Handlung ist nachvollziehbar und interessant, die Figuren sind gut dargestellt und wirken echt.
Die ganze Story hat etwas Mysteriöses und Geheimnisvolles, was mir sehr gefallen hat!
Von mir bekommt "Wintermoor" vier von fünf Sternen!
* Meine Meinung *
Das Buch hat mir sehr gefallen, auch wenn ich die Bezeichnung "Kriminalroman" unpassend finde. Ein Krimi ist dieser Roman für mich nicht. Dennoch ist das Buch durchgehend spannend, und es bleibt bis zum Ende hin offen, was mit Adam geschehen ist. Die Handlung ist nachvollziehbar und interessant, die Figuren sind gut dargestellt und wirken echt.
Die ganze Story hat etwas Mysteriöses und Geheimnisvolles, was mir sehr gefallen hat!
Von mir bekommt "Wintermoor" vier von fünf Sternen!
January 5, 2011
Should I be allowed to rate my own books?!! Then again, if I can't send Beneath the Shadows on its way with a farewell hug and one five-star rating then that seems a bit of a shame! I have given it five stars because I am so proud of it and love my heroine Grace, her feisty sister Annabel, and even some of the more suspicious characters you'll come across while reading about Grace's search for her missing husband. I hope that its readers thoroughly enjoy the ride.
October 17, 2020
This would not be a good book to read if you were alone at night. Especially if you were alone with a baby in an old cottage on the Yorkshire Moors as was the main character in this story. Just the Grandfather clock stopping and starting again in the middle of the night would have had me high tailing back to the city immediately.
Fortunately Grace is made of stronger stuff than me, plus she has the added incentive of trying to discover what actually happened to her husband, Adam, who disappeared from the cottage a year previously with no hint of whether he is alive or dead. Helped by a new friend and with visits from her sister, Grace perseveres and eventually finds what she is seeking.
Some tense moments, some very mixed up families and a romance on the side. An easy and enjoyable read.
Fortunately Grace is made of stronger stuff than me, plus she has the added incentive of trying to discover what actually happened to her husband, Adam, who disappeared from the cottage a year previously with no hint of whether he is alive or dead. Helped by a new friend and with visits from her sister, Grace perseveres and eventually finds what she is seeking.
Some tense moments, some very mixed up families and a romance on the side. An easy and enjoyable read.
August 6, 2019
When Adam's grandmother dies leaving him a cottage an isolated North Yorkshire village Adam and Grace decide to leave behind the hustle and bustle of London to try a quieter new life in which to raise their new baby girl, Millie.
They've only been living there for one week when Grace returns from an afternoon of shopping to find that Adam and Millie aren't there. Grace begins to worry when Adam and Millie have been gone much longer than expected. Then, to Grace's relief, Millie is found safe in her pram on the front doorstep. But there is no sign of Adam. The only clue Adam has left behind is a strange note.
I have to talk to you when I get back, don't go anywhere.
An exhaustive search ensues but it's as if Adam has vanished into thin air, never to be seen again. With no evidence of fowl play, Grace has no choice but to try and accept that Adam deliberately left her and their daughter behind.
But Grace is unable to quell all the happy memories of their love for each other and their plans for the future.
After a year in London Grace decides to return to the isolated cottage in the hopes of finding the answers she is desperately seeking.
First, Grace searches the dark corners of the cottage, finding a basement full of boxes that Adam had said was only a closit, raising the first of many questions she has about Adam. In one of the boxes Grace finds some family letters that may explain what Adam had been alluding to in the note. As Grace digs deeper into the lives of the locals she discovers that the untamed heath is full of superstitions, ghost stories, and secrets that the villageare unwilling to surrender easily. Already experiencing disturbing dreams and predictions of heavy snowfall that threaten to trap her and Millie on the desolate moors. The haunting stories have her jumping at shadows, feeling sure that someone is determined to keep family secrets from being uncovered. Or is she just being paranoid? Grace is beginning to doubt her decision to move to the cottage. Then she discovers a secret that puts her and her baby girl in grave danger. With yet another wicked snow storm on the horizon Grace is packed and ready to leave the creepy North Yorkshire village behind for good. Can Grace and Millie get away before the storm? And before anyone can stop her.
Beneath the Shadows by Aussie author Sara Foster is full of anxiety, tension, family secrets, and twisted family alliances. I was completely absorbed, lost among the creepy, desolate moors, with it's haunting superstitions. As the days end creeped towards dusk, then full darkness enveloped the sun, Grace is jumping at even the tiniest of noises in the dark of night.
The story grabbed my attention from the very start and I had a difficult time setting it aside as I was keen to see how it ended. Closing in on the conclusion, I thought I'd had it all worked out only to be completely wrong, proving I'm no match for this talented, crafty author!
They've only been living there for one week when Grace returns from an afternoon of shopping to find that Adam and Millie aren't there. Grace begins to worry when Adam and Millie have been gone much longer than expected. Then, to Grace's relief, Millie is found safe in her pram on the front doorstep. But there is no sign of Adam. The only clue Adam has left behind is a strange note.
I have to talk to you when I get back, don't go anywhere.
An exhaustive search ensues but it's as if Adam has vanished into thin air, never to be seen again. With no evidence of fowl play, Grace has no choice but to try and accept that Adam deliberately left her and their daughter behind.
But Grace is unable to quell all the happy memories of their love for each other and their plans for the future.
After a year in London Grace decides to return to the isolated cottage in the hopes of finding the answers she is desperately seeking.
First, Grace searches the dark corners of the cottage, finding a basement full of boxes that Adam had said was only a closit, raising the first of many questions she has about Adam. In one of the boxes Grace finds some family letters that may explain what Adam had been alluding to in the note. As Grace digs deeper into the lives of the locals she discovers that the untamed heath is full of superstitions, ghost stories, and secrets that the villageare unwilling to surrender easily. Already experiencing disturbing dreams and predictions of heavy snowfall that threaten to trap her and Millie on the desolate moors. The haunting stories have her jumping at shadows, feeling sure that someone is determined to keep family secrets from being uncovered. Or is she just being paranoid? Grace is beginning to doubt her decision to move to the cottage. Then she discovers a secret that puts her and her baby girl in grave danger. With yet another wicked snow storm on the horizon Grace is packed and ready to leave the creepy North Yorkshire village behind for good. Can Grace and Millie get away before the storm? And before anyone can stop her.
Beneath the Shadows by Aussie author Sara Foster is full of anxiety, tension, family secrets, and twisted family alliances. I was completely absorbed, lost among the creepy, desolate moors, with it's haunting superstitions. As the days end creeped towards dusk, then full darkness enveloped the sun, Grace is jumping at even the tiniest of noises in the dark of night.
The story grabbed my attention from the very start and I had a difficult time setting it aside as I was keen to see how it ended. Closing in on the conclusion, I thought I'd had it all worked out only to be completely wrong, proving I'm no match for this talented, crafty author!
February 22, 2022
(Review originally published on my blog, June 2012) Beneath the Shadows is positioned as a gothic mystery in which Grace, a young mother, moves to a remote village on the Yorkshire moors after her husband, Adam, inherits a cottage there. However, shortly after their arrival, Adam disappears without a trace, leaving their baby daughter Millie in her pram on the doorstep. One year later, Grace returns to the cottage, determined to find out what became of her husband.
- I really wasn't keen on the narrative style. I'm not really sure how to describe the problem with it, except to say that it reminded me of the stories I used to write when I was a teenager, i.e. immature/amateurish. There were a lot of infodumps, too many details about the characters' tiniest actions, and I was often confused about what was meant to be going on. Grace also 'bumped into' Ben FAR too often to be plausible - it was literally every time she went out of the house or opened the door.
- As someone who has grown up and lived most of my life in Yorkshire, the depiction of it in this book made me cringe, especially when the accent was rendered in dialogue. I appreciate that the author was attempting to portray a far more remote area than I am familiar with, but if Roseby was the kind of place tourists would come to rent a holiday cottage, I don't think it would really be as backward as was made out.
- Considering what the plot was meant to be about, Grace really didn't seem all that focused on finding out what happened to Adam. She was constantly deciding to do something or research a particular detail, and then not actually doing it: her 'mission' appeared to be almost half-hearted. The book was more about Grace getting to know Ben, her relationships with her sister Annabel and friend James, and the other villagers' private lives than it was about Adam's disappearance (with the police also seeming oddly disinterested in the case).
- Heavy-handed references to other books, particularly Wuthering Heights and Rebecca. The protagonist's full name is Grace Lockwood (subtle), Ben is actually described as being 'a Heathcliff', Grace finds a copy of Rebecca in the cottage and it's often mentioned that she's reading it. Making allusions to these novels doesn't make the book any more similar to them.
- Mistakes in the language: British people, especially in remote Yorkshire villages, do not say 'gotten' or 'klutz' (and would 'stroller' really be their default word for a baby's pram/buggy? I doubt it, I don't think I've ever heard anyone say that). Also, the word 'unaccountably' is used in numerous places when the thing being described has an obvious source and isn't 'unaccountable' at all.*
Then again, I probably shouldn't have expected much from something promoted as being 'in the tradition of Rosamund Lupton and Sophie Hannah' - two authors who might be described as average at best, in my opinion. I don't think that's really a standard anyone should be aspiring to.
Immediately after reading this I gave it a rating of three stars, but having thought more about what I actually made of it and how much the negatives and annoyances outweighed the good things about it, I've had to reduce that to two. The bottom line is, this is a book that can be read in a day, it's reasonably enjoyable and reasonably interesting, and I certainly didn't hate it or anything. But it also has a lot of flaws, and most crucially for me, it isn't the gothic drama it's made out to be - it's more like chick lit with a mystery attached, and if I'd had this impression from the beginning, I doubt I'd have requested it. I liked the ghostly elements and hints of inexplicable events, but these were minor parts of the whole, and there wasn't anywhere near enough suspense.
*I realise the copy I read was a proof and these details may have been changed in the final version. However, they did affect my enjoyment so I think it's fair to mention them.
- I really wasn't keen on the narrative style. I'm not really sure how to describe the problem with it, except to say that it reminded me of the stories I used to write when I was a teenager, i.e. immature/amateurish. There were a lot of infodumps, too many details about the characters' tiniest actions, and I was often confused about what was meant to be going on. Grace also 'bumped into' Ben FAR too often to be plausible - it was literally every time she went out of the house or opened the door.
- As someone who has grown up and lived most of my life in Yorkshire, the depiction of it in this book made me cringe, especially when the accent was rendered in dialogue. I appreciate that the author was attempting to portray a far more remote area than I am familiar with, but if Roseby was the kind of place tourists would come to rent a holiday cottage, I don't think it would really be as backward as was made out.
- Considering what the plot was meant to be about, Grace really didn't seem all that focused on finding out what happened to Adam. She was constantly deciding to do something or research a particular detail, and then not actually doing it: her 'mission' appeared to be almost half-hearted. The book was more about Grace getting to know Ben, her relationships with her sister Annabel and friend James, and the other villagers' private lives than it was about Adam's disappearance (with the police also seeming oddly disinterested in the case).
- Heavy-handed references to other books, particularly Wuthering Heights and Rebecca. The protagonist's full name is Grace Lockwood (subtle), Ben is actually described as being 'a Heathcliff', Grace finds a copy of Rebecca in the cottage and it's often mentioned that she's reading it. Making allusions to these novels doesn't make the book any more similar to them.
- Mistakes in the language: British people, especially in remote Yorkshire villages, do not say 'gotten' or 'klutz' (and would 'stroller' really be their default word for a baby's pram/buggy? I doubt it, I don't think I've ever heard anyone say that). Also, the word 'unaccountably' is used in numerous places when the thing being described has an obvious source and isn't 'unaccountable' at all.*
Then again, I probably shouldn't have expected much from something promoted as being 'in the tradition of Rosamund Lupton and Sophie Hannah' - two authors who might be described as average at best, in my opinion. I don't think that's really a standard anyone should be aspiring to.
Immediately after reading this I gave it a rating of three stars, but having thought more about what I actually made of it and how much the negatives and annoyances outweighed the good things about it, I've had to reduce that to two. The bottom line is, this is a book that can be read in a day, it's reasonably enjoyable and reasonably interesting, and I certainly didn't hate it or anything. But it also has a lot of flaws, and most crucially for me, it isn't the gothic drama it's made out to be - it's more like chick lit with a mystery attached, and if I'd had this impression from the beginning, I doubt I'd have requested it. I liked the ghostly elements and hints of inexplicable events, but these were minor parts of the whole, and there wasn't anywhere near enough suspense.
*I realise the copy I read was a proof and these details may have been changed in the final version. However, they did affect my enjoyment so I think it's fair to mention them.
November 15, 2015
'There was something beautiful about this place, she thought - in daylight, the raw, untouched vista had the power to stop your mind for a moment. Here, you didn't have to look up to see the sky, it came right down and met you, ever present beyond the ceaseless shifting of color, clouds, and light.'
I was intrigued by the gothic feel to the summary and loved the writing itself...'The answers are hiding beneath the shadows.' I was sold; however, despite the fact that the idea and concept was there it ended up falling flat.
The main character, Grace, was hard to gauge emotionally and was very hard to like and understand. This is a woman who lost her husband, Adam, a year prior and has just now decided that she needs to go back to their cottage to look for clues regarding his disappearance, because it simply doesn't make sense that he would up and vanish without a word. The way she acted the majority of the time was that she had moved on it and the loss of her husband wasn't impacting her day to day life as much anymore. I took this to mean that after a year she's been able to work her way through all the emotions and has come out on top, which is understandable; however, just as soon as someone talks about Adam or some new clue pops up regarding him she immediately goes into meltdown mode so fast I'm surprised she didn't give herself whiplash.
A lot of other things didn't add up like how she felt about their cottage and the village itself. She came back to the cottage in order to clean it out and potentially sell it so she could have enough money for her to provide for her 15 month old child. As the novel progresses there isn't an explanation regarding her change of mind but all of a sudden she starts talking about the cottage/village with a whole new attitude as if she never intended on leaving in the first place. And then there was the obligatory new male in her life, Ben, who ends up offering his assistance in fixing up her cottage to sell it. It’s one thing in a story for the main character to fall for someone or trust them so completely after only a short period of time, but when she’s leaving her child with him as she runs off to go track down some clue about the missing husband? Yeah, I’ve got a problem there. There were several other details that had me cringing but I won’t detail them all.
The mystery itself lacked a much needed suspense... halfway through I found myself wondering when something was going to happen since there didn't seem to be any build-up that hinted that it was actually leading up to something big. Plus there were the little 'paranormal' tidbits like the mysterious clock that stops at 3am, the doors that shut by themselves, the fact that the main character is reading Rebecca throughout the whole story, and the constant ghost stories surrounding the area... with the way the story concluded I think that all these details hinted at more of a mysterious solution to said mystery when in fact it was a simple straight forward solution. I think it would have been much better if it was clear from the start without the failed attempts to make it a creepy, gothic tale
I was intrigued by the gothic feel to the summary and loved the writing itself...'The answers are hiding beneath the shadows.' I was sold; however, despite the fact that the idea and concept was there it ended up falling flat.
The main character, Grace, was hard to gauge emotionally and was very hard to like and understand. This is a woman who lost her husband, Adam, a year prior and has just now decided that she needs to go back to their cottage to look for clues regarding his disappearance, because it simply doesn't make sense that he would up and vanish without a word. The way she acted the majority of the time was that she had moved on it and the loss of her husband wasn't impacting her day to day life as much anymore. I took this to mean that after a year she's been able to work her way through all the emotions and has come out on top, which is understandable; however, just as soon as someone talks about Adam or some new clue pops up regarding him she immediately goes into meltdown mode so fast I'm surprised she didn't give herself whiplash.
A lot of other things didn't add up like how she felt about their cottage and the village itself. She came back to the cottage in order to clean it out and potentially sell it so she could have enough money for her to provide for her 15 month old child. As the novel progresses there isn't an explanation regarding her change of mind but all of a sudden she starts talking about the cottage/village with a whole new attitude as if she never intended on leaving in the first place. And then there was the obligatory new male in her life, Ben, who ends up offering his assistance in fixing up her cottage to sell it. It’s one thing in a story for the main character to fall for someone or trust them so completely after only a short period of time, but when she’s leaving her child with him as she runs off to go track down some clue about the missing husband? Yeah, I’ve got a problem there. There were several other details that had me cringing but I won’t detail them all.
The mystery itself lacked a much needed suspense... halfway through I found myself wondering when something was going to happen since there didn't seem to be any build-up that hinted that it was actually leading up to something big. Plus there were the little 'paranormal' tidbits like the mysterious clock that stops at 3am, the doors that shut by themselves, the fact that the main character is reading Rebecca throughout the whole story, and the constant ghost stories surrounding the area... with the way the story concluded I think that all these details hinted at more of a mysterious solution to said mystery when in fact it was a simple straight forward solution. I think it would have been much better if it was clear from the start without the failed attempts to make it a creepy, gothic tale
August 19, 2019
Grace Lockwood and her husband Adam leave London and move into Hawthorn Cottage on the North Yorkshire moors. The cottage has been left to Adam by his grandparents. Grace is not convinced that she will enjoy the change of pace but Adam is keen. So she agrees to try it for six months. And then things change. A week later Grace finds their baby daughter Millie in the pram on the doorstep but no sign of Adam. Where can he be? Why has he left their child alone? Despite police searches no trace of Adam is found. Grace cannot bear to live there without him and retreats back to live with her parents. But twelve months later she is back in Roseby to decide what to do about the house. She still wants answers to what happened to Adam. Instead what she gets are superstitions, village tales of ghosts and people who seem to be hiding things. She becomes decidedly unsettled. Is she in danger? Or has she let this place with its eerie atmosphere get to her?
This book really captures the bleakness of the moors. It is a quietly engaging read that kept my attention throughout. Characters were well drawn and interesting but it is really the setting that takes precedence. Not the sort of book you’d probably want to read late at night while in a house on your own though, I think. Otherwise you could easily start imagining things, such is the atmosphere created. I really enjoyed it.
This book really captures the bleakness of the moors. It is a quietly engaging read that kept my attention throughout. Characters were well drawn and interesting but it is really the setting that takes precedence. Not the sort of book you’d probably want to read late at night while in a house on your own though, I think. Otherwise you could easily start imagining things, such is the atmosphere created. I really enjoyed it.
December 29, 2022
I did have a few issues with this book but somehow I still found myself rushing to finish and enjoying it.
The premise is great. Grace and her hubby, Adam, move from London to a remote cottage in the Yorkshire moors. One morning, Adam goes out for a walk with their baby daughter and completely disappears. Grace only finds the baby, having been left alone in her pram at their front door. Jump ahead one year and Grace returns to clean out the cottage with aspirations of hopefully finding some sort of clue as to Adam's whereabouts.
Issue 1 - The bland supporting characters. Apart from Ben, a neighbour Grace employs to do some renovations at the cottage, they're all rather boring. Especially Grace's old male friend who wants to be more than a friend. *yawn* And (despite Foster trying hard to make her stand out) Grace's boring whiney sister.
Issue 2 - The obviousness of some of the plot. You can see most of the 'twists' coming a mile off.
Issue 3 - 'Why didn't they think of that earlier?' This sort of links to issue 2. Adam's fate is revealed in the end and I'm flabbergasted that no one would have thought of it sooner. More of a plot hole than a plot twist.
The book does have some Gothic touches but, really, I'd call it a romantic suspense. I've been reading lots of Mary Stewart books and I thought there were glimpses of Foster trying to emulate her style.
As I said, despite the issues, I still liked this book and would read more by Foster in the future.
3 1/2 stars
The premise is great. Grace and her hubby, Adam, move from London to a remote cottage in the Yorkshire moors. One morning, Adam goes out for a walk with their baby daughter and completely disappears. Grace only finds the baby, having been left alone in her pram at their front door. Jump ahead one year and Grace returns to clean out the cottage with aspirations of hopefully finding some sort of clue as to Adam's whereabouts.
Issue 1 - The bland supporting characters. Apart from Ben, a neighbour Grace employs to do some renovations at the cottage, they're all rather boring. Especially Grace's old male friend who wants to be more than a friend. *yawn* And (despite Foster trying hard to make her stand out) Grace's boring whiney sister.
Issue 2 - The obviousness of some of the plot. You can see most of the 'twists' coming a mile off.
Issue 3 - 'Why didn't they think of that earlier?' This sort of links to issue 2. Adam's fate is revealed in the end and I'm flabbergasted that no one would have thought of it sooner. More of a plot hole than a plot twist.
The book does have some Gothic touches but, really, I'd call it a romantic suspense. I've been reading lots of Mary Stewart books and I thought there were glimpses of Foster trying to emulate her style.
As I said, despite the issues, I still liked this book and would read more by Foster in the future.
3 1/2 stars
September 7, 2020
The north Yorkshire moors provide a stellar setting for a brooding gothic mystery, and in truth, the descriptions of the moors, the tiny villages, and the winter weather were the best part of this book.
The premise had potential - a woman's husband suddenly disappears from the house the couple has inherited in a remote, sparsely populated region, and their infant daughter is left in her stroller on the doorstep. When no explanation can be found, the wife retreats to the support of her family, only to return a year later ostensibly to clean out the house in preparation for its sale, but also to make another effort to solve the missing person mystery.
Unfortunately, the follow through on this idea was shallow. Although the superficial motivation of the principal character, the wife, was obvious I never got a sense of her as a fully rounded person. And the only time I truly felt that frisson of danger that should be part of a Gothic tale was during her drive through a snowstorm. (That's could be because I spent much of my life coping with lake effect snow storms coming into Western New York state off Lake Erie, and had more than my share of white knuckle drives of this type.)
In fairness, Gothic isn't really my genre so I'm probably not the best suited to rate this book. With that caution, I've given it 3 stars for the setting.
The premise had potential - a woman's husband suddenly disappears from the house the couple has inherited in a remote, sparsely populated region, and their infant daughter is left in her stroller on the doorstep. When no explanation can be found, the wife retreats to the support of her family, only to return a year later ostensibly to clean out the house in preparation for its sale, but also to make another effort to solve the missing person mystery.
Unfortunately, the follow through on this idea was shallow. Although the superficial motivation of the principal character, the wife, was obvious I never got a sense of her as a fully rounded person. And the only time I truly felt that frisson of danger that should be part of a Gothic tale was during her drive through a snowstorm. (That's could be because I spent much of my life coping with lake effect snow storms coming into Western New York state off Lake Erie, and had more than my share of white knuckle drives of this type.)
In fairness, Gothic isn't really my genre so I'm probably not the best suited to rate this book. With that caution, I've given it 3 stars for the setting.
July 19, 2016
Grace Lockwood and her husband Adam and their new baby daughter Millie have moved into a cottage in North Yorkshire left to Adam by his grandparents. However, while they are still settling in Grace returns from shopping to find Adam missing and baby Millie left on her pram on the doorstep. Despite a frantic search organized by the village and local police Adam is never found. Twelve months later after spending the year with her parents in France, Grace returns to the village just before Christmas to tidy up affairs and decide what to do with the cottage. She still can’t believe that Adam is not coming back and starts to ask questions and follow up on what he was doing in his last days. Strange things start happening and the villagers tales of ghosts on the moors start to spook her and as the weather closes in she becomes tense and fearful.
This novel has a sinister, gothic feel to it with the isolation of the Yorkshire moors, the insularity of the villagers and the heavy snowfalls that make it difficult to leave. Just as Grace is preparing to flee from the cottage, events of the past start to catch up with the present and Grace begins to unravel the truth behind Adam’s disappearance.
This novel has a sinister, gothic feel to it with the isolation of the Yorkshire moors, the insularity of the villagers and the heavy snowfalls that make it difficult to leave. Just as Grace is preparing to flee from the cottage, events of the past start to catch up with the present and Grace begins to unravel the truth behind Adam’s disappearance.
September 5, 2016
This was an easy read and I enjoyed this Gothic-style mystery set in England’s far north, but I was never completely engrossed. The ending was mostly satisfying, although there were some loose ends that I felt should have been either tied up, or not introduced in the first place as they fizzled away into nothingness with no further explanation.
Perhaps unfortunately, I read this not too long after reading another (fantastic) Gothic-style novel so it may be that this one suffered in comparison. It did keep me turning the pages, but it wasn’t unputdownable. I would be interested to read more of Sara Foster’s work. 3.5★
Perhaps unfortunately, I read this not too long after reading another (fantastic) Gothic-style novel so it may be that this one suffered in comparison. It did keep me turning the pages, but it wasn’t unputdownable. I would be interested to read more of Sara Foster’s work. 3.5★
February 18, 2013
Meh. I did finish the book, so I can't say it was terrible. It was just annoying at times and dragged too much for me to give it a higher rating. I hope the author learns from this book and gets the hang of showing instead of telling, and leaves the internal questions/navel-gazing on the cutting room floor next time. She could be a good writer, but not until shit like that is fixed.
May 24, 2012
3.5 Richly atmospheric, gothic undertones, the setting of the desolation of Yorkshire moors all set the tone for this mystery by Foster. When I first started reading it I didn't know if I was reading a ghost story or a regular mystery that needed solving. There are plenty of ghosts and haunting mentioned for sure and really either of the scenarios would have played out and been very believable. Secrets from the past, the slow unveiling of clues, and very interesting and well rounded characters kept me reading late into the night. And let me tell you reading this at night when the house was so quiet really ratcheted up the creepiness factor. Looking forward to seeing what this author writes next.
June 22, 2016
Thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was one of those that I found very hard to put down!
Grace, with her little daughter Millie, return to where they were a year previously, when her husband Adam vanished without trace, and no amount of searching by the police, and everyone else, could turn up any clues. They all believed he 'ran away', but Grace was positive this wasn't the case. Heart wrenching, sad, secretive, thrilling....until the very last page you will be captivated by Sara Foster's novel!
Grace, with her little daughter Millie, return to where they were a year previously, when her husband Adam vanished without trace, and no amount of searching by the police, and everyone else, could turn up any clues. They all believed he 'ran away', but Grace was positive this wasn't the case. Heart wrenching, sad, secretive, thrilling....until the very last page you will be captivated by Sara Foster's novel!
February 16, 2024
Review to follow.
August 9, 2011
I won this little read through the fantastic Good Reads First Reads Giveaways and I must say it was pretty much exactly what I expected. I hear the phrase a lot in my English classes, "Show, don't tell" and I felt that this book fell short on this point. When I'm being told that Grace did this and then she said this and felt this way and then this happened and she reacted accordingly, I begin to lose interest because it sounds really rehearsed; there's no emotion. I read recently that how can you expect your readers to try and work out what's going on if you're telling them every little detail? Essentially, the style of the text was quite immature and not what I expected from a not-unknown, published author.
That being said: the story itself was a bit of mystery, a bit of heartache and a bit of ghosty business. I found the haunting aspect to be quite well done and spooky, especially with the grandfather clock that stops at 3 am. But the relationships, the missing person and the family secrets all seemed rather forced and not as stimulating as I'm sure they were intended to be. Yes, Adam's story was a sad one and, yes, the Blakeney's were pretty mixed up but the characters didn't draw me in and I didn't make any real connections with the story. I'm glad I read it, it wasn't a complete waste of time but it's definitely not something to be seriously analyzed or interpretated.
That being said: the story itself was a bit of mystery, a bit of heartache and a bit of ghosty business. I found the haunting aspect to be quite well done and spooky, especially with the grandfather clock that stops at 3 am. But the relationships, the missing person and the family secrets all seemed rather forced and not as stimulating as I'm sure they were intended to be. Yes, Adam's story was a sad one and, yes, the Blakeney's were pretty mixed up but the characters didn't draw me in and I didn't make any real connections with the story. I'm glad I read it, it wasn't a complete waste of time but it's definitely not something to be seriously analyzed or interpretated.
September 1, 2016
This book had quite an impact on me. I was hooked right from the beginning. There was something eerie and compelling about this story. It was a slow, tension building journey to a riveting ending. There were many elements here typical of the gothic novel; mystery and suspense, supernatural and inexplicable events, gloominess and the setting...the moors created the perfect background for this story to unfold. We know right at the very beginning of the book that Grace's husband Adam has mysteriously disappeared but that is only the start. We keep reading in anticipation to find out what has happened to Adam. Will we get the answers we want? To find out you must read it for yourself. Thanks to my friend Mish for bringing this one to my attention. I'm sorry we felt so differently about it.
February 22, 2022
3.5 Stars
Beneath the Shadows is a spooky, gothic suspense tale that takes place in the Yorkshire countryside. Grace’s husband, Adam, has inherited a cottage in Yorkshire and they decide to move from London to the country with their baby, 3-month-old Millie. A week after their arrival, Adam mysteriously disappears after going for a walk, leaving Millie in her baby carriage abandoned on their doorstep.
A year later, Grace returns to try to puzzle out exactly what happened to her husband. While the police seem to believe he took off to avoid the responsibilities of parenthood, Grace knows how much Adam loved both her and Millie. She moves back into the cottage and neighbors tell her about ghosts. She has an antique clock that seems to start and stop on its own. She dreams of black hounds chasing her. She continues to dig around and finds a couple of clues that do point to Adam not leaving her. But what happened to him?
This would make a great Halloween read. The creepy location, strange neighbors and ghostly tales add to the suspense. And I was truly surprised by the ending. Overall a very good debut novel.
Beneath the Shadows is a spooky, gothic suspense tale that takes place in the Yorkshire countryside. Grace’s husband, Adam, has inherited a cottage in Yorkshire and they decide to move from London to the country with their baby, 3-month-old Millie. A week after their arrival, Adam mysteriously disappears after going for a walk, leaving Millie in her baby carriage abandoned on their doorstep.
A year later, Grace returns to try to puzzle out exactly what happened to her husband. While the police seem to believe he took off to avoid the responsibilities of parenthood, Grace knows how much Adam loved both her and Millie. She moves back into the cottage and neighbors tell her about ghosts. She has an antique clock that seems to start and stop on its own. She dreams of black hounds chasing her. She continues to dig around and finds a couple of clues that do point to Adam not leaving her. But what happened to him?
This would make a great Halloween read. The creepy location, strange neighbors and ghostly tales add to the suspense. And I was truly surprised by the ending. Overall a very good debut novel.
June 5, 2012
Despite the blurbage (and references to) Rebecca, this wasn't quite like that - although there are definite Gothic overtones!
There's something so very evocative and creepy about North Yorkshire. I mean, Dracula is set there. Ditto Wuthering Heights. So definite points for setting. Adam's mother lived there until she ran away (to have him), and after her death from cancer he moves in with his grandparents for a summer. After university, he meets Grace and they marry... Millie follows less than a year later. When Adam's grandparents die and leave him their cottage, he suggests they move into it to take a break from their London life. Shortly after, Adam takes Millie out for a walk. All Grace knows is that Maggie somehow is returned to the cottage, and that Adam has disappeared. A year later, Grace and Millie return to go through the cottage, take care of the contents, and then rent it out until the legalities are settled.
The village is tiny - nearly deserted - but there's an old schoolhouse in which Meredith and her daughter Claire live. Claire is fine, but Meredith's perfectly polite demeanor clearly masks something very different. Ben, the handyman/contractor Grace hires to help renovate the cottage, is also hiding something. The winter's approach, often snowing so hard that drivers can't see the road, along with the grandfather clock that stops and restarts at 3am and the stories in Ghosts of the Moors all combine to drive Grace slightly mad.
The sense of menace is real and the setting plays a large part in that. The mysteries of what happened to Adam, what Ben is hiding and why Meredith is less than honestly welcoming are all eventually resolved. To be honest, I was hoping for a more Wicker Man/Harvest Home theme and Grace's frequent "tears streaming down her face" led to the four-star review. Make it 4.5 (if only we had that option!)
ARC provided by publisher.
There's something so very evocative and creepy about North Yorkshire. I mean, Dracula is set there. Ditto Wuthering Heights. So definite points for setting. Adam's mother lived there until she ran away (to have him), and after her death from cancer he moves in with his grandparents for a summer. After university, he meets Grace and they marry... Millie follows less than a year later. When Adam's grandparents die and leave him their cottage, he suggests they move into it to take a break from their London life. Shortly after, Adam takes Millie out for a walk. All Grace knows is that Maggie somehow is returned to the cottage, and that Adam has disappeared. A year later, Grace and Millie return to go through the cottage, take care of the contents, and then rent it out until the legalities are settled.
The village is tiny - nearly deserted - but there's an old schoolhouse in which Meredith and her daughter Claire live. Claire is fine, but Meredith's perfectly polite demeanor clearly masks something very different. Ben, the handyman/contractor Grace hires to help renovate the cottage, is also hiding something. The winter's approach, often snowing so hard that drivers can't see the road, along with the grandfather clock that stops and restarts at 3am and the stories in Ghosts of the Moors all combine to drive Grace slightly mad.
The sense of menace is real and the setting plays a large part in that. The mysteries of what happened to Adam, what Ben is hiding and why Meredith is less than honestly welcoming are all eventually resolved. To be honest, I was hoping for a more Wicker Man/Harvest Home theme and Grace's frequent "tears streaming down her face" led to the four-star review. Make it 4.5 (if only we had that option!)
ARC provided by publisher.
January 21, 2013
"Are you alright Grace?" is the question repeated throughout this far too many times. Yes, Grace is alright. If this book were a car, I'd say it's stalled. There is a tangled web that reveals itself but not till the last two chapters if you can make it that far. The characters are blah, the dialogue repetitive, and uninteresting. My recommendation on this one, is don't bother. I'm sorry I did, truly a waste of my time.
August 23, 2012
I have absolutely no idea why reviewers insist on calling this book gothic because there is nothing gothic about it. The fact that the heroine is reading a gothic novel -Rebecca- on and off does not make this book gothic. In fact, it is set in the present day. Please, reviewers, read some classic gothic fiction and note the differences.
This is also not a ghost story nor are there any ghosts here.
Adam and Grace lived in London until their baby daughter Millie was 10 weeks old then moved to a very remote little village (if you can call 6 houses a village) in North Yorkshire near the moors to a cottage-Hawthorn Cottage- left to Adam by recently deceased grandparents. Adam insists that they try out life in the remote area though he only spent one summer there himself and though there is nothing there and nothing to do.
Adam had spent that summer there at age 17 right after his mother Rachel died of cancer and then went away to college. Rachel had been impregnated and run away and did not return home but her son went.
They had been at the cottage for a week when Adam told Grace to do her shopping (she had to go to the nearest semi-decent sized village to do so) and he would stay home with the baby. When she returned they were gone and a mysterious note was waiting for her. She begins to worry after dark when they do not return.
Suddenly Grace finds baby Millie on the porch in her stroller.Adam is missing.
Fast forward to a year later. Grace has decided to return to the cottage to clean it out and to search for clues to what happened to Adam. Her parents (who live in France) and her sister Annabelle who lives in London as well as the police think he didn't want to be a husband and dad and ran away. He had taken a lot of money out of the bank the day before he disappeared but it was supposed to be to kept around the house for their needs. In fact, I don't know why they thought he ran off since his car, that money, and his passport and all of his clothes and belongings were at the house and his cell phone had been in the stroller with the baby.Grace doesn't know what to think but she feels like she needs closure and she cannot even sell the cottage because both names are on it and he is missing and can't sign papers.
She comes in the winter so there is cold, snow, ice, and the feeling of being all alone out in the middle of nowhere. The neighbors are a mixed bag. She enlists Ben, an architect and artist who is housesitting one of the cottages (and the black lab Bess) to help her renovate the cottage. She wants to rent it out as a holiday cottage rental for vacationers.
Now for the "ghost" part. Adam's grandmother wrote a thin book on the ghost story of the area. Meredith, the matriarch of a family of 4 girls and a boy believes that 2 of her girls saw a friendly little boy ghost named Timmy but they admit to Grace that it was just a lie they made up to get attention.
The clock. I myself have a clock here that does the same stuff the one in the cottage does. Much ado is made that if the clock stops someone in the village will die but the thing stops and starts on a whim and a number of times someone visiting or staying with Grace actually had rewound it. Some ghostly clock.
Grace begins to dig into what happened to Adam and into his family history which makes certain parties very uncomfortable. Creepy things happen (like a message on the windshield) but nothing ghostly. She convinces herself that there are ghosts because she dreams of black dogs (3 neighbors have black labs from the same family), the Timmy story which she knows is based on a lie, the clock.
There is also the matter of Millie, her 15 month old kid. This kid obviously needs to see a developmental specialist. It is okay that she is spooked by strangers at that age-normal- but the kid is 15 months old and can't walk nor does she pull up (mine was crawling at 5 months, pulling up at 6 months, cruising the room by holding on to the furniture at 7 months, and walking at age 8 1/2 months. By 15 months she could run proficiently) nor does she even babble as kids usually do by 6 months. Grace hovers over the kid and grabs her at every whine. I see trouble looming with a helicopter mom.
Here's an example. She went to a New Year's Eve celebration at Meredith's. They all went outside to do this New year's eve ritual that the family had always done because their dad had started it when they were kids. Since the dad died recently, one of the sons-in-law was going to do the honors. They all went outside with certain items like a piece of coal, some bread, etc and were to go inside as soon as the New Year struck so to bring things in the house that symbolized good things for the year (like the bread meant plenty of food for the year) leaving Millie asleep in the house in her stroller along with an old man who was a relative who was napping. When they tried to go in at midnight , the door was stuck (it was below freezing) and Grace acted like a nut.
Millie had awakened and cried, waking the old man who went and picked her up. Being scared of strangers, Millie screamed and screamed and Grace was running at the door demanding they get it open even though the child was perfectly safe . When they got inside, she snatched the child from the old man and treated him like he was a killer. He tried to explain that he woke up because she was crying and picked her up. She then was screaming at the entire family- Meredith, her daughters, her sons-in-law and the grandkids to "let me out" as if they were holding her prisoner by standing there looking at her and Millie.
I like the story a lot. There is quite a bit of mystery surrounding what happened to Adam and she keeps finding clues and getting little bits and pieces of the puzzle. There is also some questions of who fathered who and who was cheating on who and why. Pretty hot action for a village with about 6 houses, a "store" in someone's house and a pub in someone else's!!
Adding to the drama was visits from Grace's Annabel who appears to me to be less of a journalist and more of a horny alcoholic slut. But then I am trying to make her sound good. Also, James, a banker who now lives in Switzerland had been Grace's friend before she married. He had been in love with her and only told her so when she got engaged to Adam. He had it in for Adam. And suddenly he shows up at the cottage when a blizzard is coming with plans to stay there until after Christmas.
There is a sort of romance between Ben and Grace which is very understated and involves no sex in the story which I am glad of because sex in mysteries has a way of distracting. It becomes a triangle as Annabel makes a play for him.
Read this if you like mysteries set in the UK with surprises you will not guess along the way and plenty of shockers along the way but no gore, no ghosts, and a little romance, a lot of psychological thrills, and a real mystery along with the emotional story of a young mother trying to find out against all odds the truth of what happened when her husband disappeared.
This is also not a ghost story nor are there any ghosts here.
Adam and Grace lived in London until their baby daughter Millie was 10 weeks old then moved to a very remote little village (if you can call 6 houses a village) in North Yorkshire near the moors to a cottage-Hawthorn Cottage- left to Adam by recently deceased grandparents. Adam insists that they try out life in the remote area though he only spent one summer there himself and though there is nothing there and nothing to do.
Adam had spent that summer there at age 17 right after his mother Rachel died of cancer and then went away to college. Rachel had been impregnated and run away and did not return home but her son went.
They had been at the cottage for a week when Adam told Grace to do her shopping (she had to go to the nearest semi-decent sized village to do so) and he would stay home with the baby. When she returned they were gone and a mysterious note was waiting for her. She begins to worry after dark when they do not return.
Suddenly Grace finds baby Millie on the porch in her stroller.Adam is missing.
Fast forward to a year later. Grace has decided to return to the cottage to clean it out and to search for clues to what happened to Adam. Her parents (who live in France) and her sister Annabelle who lives in London as well as the police think he didn't want to be a husband and dad and ran away. He had taken a lot of money out of the bank the day before he disappeared but it was supposed to be to kept around the house for their needs. In fact, I don't know why they thought he ran off since his car, that money, and his passport and all of his clothes and belongings were at the house and his cell phone had been in the stroller with the baby.Grace doesn't know what to think but she feels like she needs closure and she cannot even sell the cottage because both names are on it and he is missing and can't sign papers.
She comes in the winter so there is cold, snow, ice, and the feeling of being all alone out in the middle of nowhere. The neighbors are a mixed bag. She enlists Ben, an architect and artist who is housesitting one of the cottages (and the black lab Bess) to help her renovate the cottage. She wants to rent it out as a holiday cottage rental for vacationers.
Now for the "ghost" part. Adam's grandmother wrote a thin book on the ghost story of the area. Meredith, the matriarch of a family of 4 girls and a boy believes that 2 of her girls saw a friendly little boy ghost named Timmy but they admit to Grace that it was just a lie they made up to get attention.
The clock. I myself have a clock here that does the same stuff the one in the cottage does. Much ado is made that if the clock stops someone in the village will die but the thing stops and starts on a whim and a number of times someone visiting or staying with Grace actually had rewound it. Some ghostly clock.
Grace begins to dig into what happened to Adam and into his family history which makes certain parties very uncomfortable. Creepy things happen (like a message on the windshield) but nothing ghostly. She convinces herself that there are ghosts because she dreams of black dogs (3 neighbors have black labs from the same family), the Timmy story which she knows is based on a lie, the clock.
There is also the matter of Millie, her 15 month old kid. This kid obviously needs to see a developmental specialist. It is okay that she is spooked by strangers at that age-normal- but the kid is 15 months old and can't walk nor does she pull up (mine was crawling at 5 months, pulling up at 6 months, cruising the room by holding on to the furniture at 7 months, and walking at age 8 1/2 months. By 15 months she could run proficiently) nor does she even babble as kids usually do by 6 months. Grace hovers over the kid and grabs her at every whine. I see trouble looming with a helicopter mom.
Here's an example. She went to a New Year's Eve celebration at Meredith's. They all went outside to do this New year's eve ritual that the family had always done because their dad had started it when they were kids. Since the dad died recently, one of the sons-in-law was going to do the honors. They all went outside with certain items like a piece of coal, some bread, etc and were to go inside as soon as the New Year struck so to bring things in the house that symbolized good things for the year (like the bread meant plenty of food for the year) leaving Millie asleep in the house in her stroller along with an old man who was a relative who was napping. When they tried to go in at midnight , the door was stuck (it was below freezing) and Grace acted like a nut.
Millie had awakened and cried, waking the old man who went and picked her up. Being scared of strangers, Millie screamed and screamed and Grace was running at the door demanding they get it open even though the child was perfectly safe . When they got inside, she snatched the child from the old man and treated him like he was a killer. He tried to explain that he woke up because she was crying and picked her up. She then was screaming at the entire family- Meredith, her daughters, her sons-in-law and the grandkids to "let me out" as if they were holding her prisoner by standing there looking at her and Millie.
I like the story a lot. There is quite a bit of mystery surrounding what happened to Adam and she keeps finding clues and getting little bits and pieces of the puzzle. There is also some questions of who fathered who and who was cheating on who and why. Pretty hot action for a village with about 6 houses, a "store" in someone's house and a pub in someone else's!!
Adding to the drama was visits from Grace's Annabel who appears to me to be less of a journalist and more of a horny alcoholic slut. But then I am trying to make her sound good. Also, James, a banker who now lives in Switzerland had been Grace's friend before she married. He had been in love with her and only told her so when she got engaged to Adam. He had it in for Adam. And suddenly he shows up at the cottage when a blizzard is coming with plans to stay there until after Christmas.
There is a sort of romance between Ben and Grace which is very understated and involves no sex in the story which I am glad of because sex in mysteries has a way of distracting. It becomes a triangle as Annabel makes a play for him.
Read this if you like mysteries set in the UK with surprises you will not guess along the way and plenty of shockers along the way but no gore, no ghosts, and a little romance, a lot of psychological thrills, and a real mystery along with the emotional story of a young mother trying to find out against all odds the truth of what happened when her husband disappeared.
September 13, 2020
This was an enjoyable, cozy little mystery. A good “in between” book. Not too stale and not to outrageous. Just right.
June 23, 2012
I loved this book.
Mysteries are so much fun to read, IF they are done correctly. If you know whodunit before the hero, or if you are left with no surprises, then the mystery is dull and pointless. But if you are kept guessing, and if the resolution makes sense, then the mystery is beautifully crafted. And that's what Sara Foster has done here.
Grace, her husband, Adam, and their baby daughter Millie return to Adam's grandparents' cottage in North Yorkshire. Adam wants them to escape from the hurly burly of London, and since the cottage is paid for, they can downsize and reconnect with simplicity. But shortly after they move, Adam takes Millie for a walk and never returns, although Millie is left in her stroller on the front porch.
A year later, Grace and Millie return to the cottage, after living in France with her parents. Grace wants answers - what happened to Adam? - and she needs some sort of closure. She begins having strange nightmares, and as the locals fill her with tales of ghosts, she becomes increasingly unsettled. Why does the grandfather clock - the "heart" of the cottage, as Adam said his grandfather called it - periodically stop ticking? What are those weird noises she hears? Why do some people stare at her?
And, most importantly, how can she make peace with Adam's absence? She goes through old papers and photographs, desperate to solve the mystery of Adam.
The answers will not come easily to Grace, either because she asks the wrong questions or because those who might help her refuse to do so. As with much of life, Grace comes to understand that figuring out what happened to Adam is just one mystery to solve. There are others, and the thing about secrets is that those who try to keep them do not want you to find them out.
Sara Foster does a fine job of crafting this story. She keeps you guessing from page to page, and the answers do not come easily or conveniently. There is nothing cheap in the resolution to this book, and for that, I doff my wig in gratitude. I admit to a few remaining questions, but not for major plot threads.
This may not be a great beach read, in that you don't want to put it down when you need to roll over and burn your back side, but it's great for a rainy, dreary summer day. In fact, that may be the perfect ambience for this gripping mystery.
Published on cupcake's book cupboard. @VivaAmaRisata
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview.
Mysteries are so much fun to read, IF they are done correctly. If you know whodunit before the hero, or if you are left with no surprises, then the mystery is dull and pointless. But if you are kept guessing, and if the resolution makes sense, then the mystery is beautifully crafted. And that's what Sara Foster has done here.
Grace, her husband, Adam, and their baby daughter Millie return to Adam's grandparents' cottage in North Yorkshire. Adam wants them to escape from the hurly burly of London, and since the cottage is paid for, they can downsize and reconnect with simplicity. But shortly after they move, Adam takes Millie for a walk and never returns, although Millie is left in her stroller on the front porch.
A year later, Grace and Millie return to the cottage, after living in France with her parents. Grace wants answers - what happened to Adam? - and she needs some sort of closure. She begins having strange nightmares, and as the locals fill her with tales of ghosts, she becomes increasingly unsettled. Why does the grandfather clock - the "heart" of the cottage, as Adam said his grandfather called it - periodically stop ticking? What are those weird noises she hears? Why do some people stare at her?
And, most importantly, how can she make peace with Adam's absence? She goes through old papers and photographs, desperate to solve the mystery of Adam.
She had to summon all her will power to swallow the emotion that began to rise in her throat. She searched their faces for some clue that their love story was destined to end abruptly, that they weren't as happy as she had imagined - but all she could see was joyful smiles and laughter. That night, as they had gone to sleep in a four-poster bed, Adam had whispered his love in her ear, telling her he'd had the greatest day of his life. And when he'd first held Millie in his arms he'd promised he would do everything possible to protect his family. He'd said it with such gravitas ... Too much gravitas? How would she ever know? Could she really live the rest of her life with all this doubt? But what choice had he left her?
The answers will not come easily to Grace, either because she asks the wrong questions or because those who might help her refuse to do so. As with much of life, Grace comes to understand that figuring out what happened to Adam is just one mystery to solve. There are others, and the thing about secrets is that those who try to keep them do not want you to find them out.
Sara Foster does a fine job of crafting this story. She keeps you guessing from page to page, and the answers do not come easily or conveniently. There is nothing cheap in the resolution to this book, and for that, I doff my wig in gratitude. I admit to a few remaining questions, but not for major plot threads.
This may not be a great beach read, in that you don't want to put it down when you need to roll over and burn your back side, but it's great for a rainy, dreary summer day. In fact, that may be the perfect ambience for this gripping mystery.
Published on cupcake's book cupboard. @VivaAmaRisata
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview.
June 19, 2012
Adam and Grace Lockwood and their infant daughter, Millie, relocate to the tiny village of Roseby, located in the wild moors of North Yorkshire. Hawthorn Cottage, once owned by Adam’s grandparents, seems like the perfect place to start a new, peaceful life away from the hectic pace of London. Just days after arriving, the unthinkable happens – Adam goes missing while out walking Millie, and Grace finds Millie by their front door in her stroller all alone. Grace is confused and distraught. They were happy together, and Adam loved Millie, so why would he just abandon them as the police suggest? When the search party finds no clues after weeks of looking, Grace and Millie head back to London to wait.
A year passes with no word from Adam, so Grace decides to return to Hawthorne Cottage to try and solve the mystery herself. The not knowing is slowly eating away at her sanity, and besides, if Adam doesn’t come back, she needs to go through the decades of memories stored in the cottage so the place can be sold. As she searches for clues, she discovers old letters and family secrets meant to stay buried. The more clues she uncovers, the more she’s certain that something sinister happened to Adam rather than him simply running away.
BENEATH THE SHADOWS was an intriguing blend of mystery and eerie modern gothic, and I was entranced from the beginning to end. I enjoyed Ms. Foster’s engaging writing style. The story flowed smoothly, and she definitely kept me hanging on to every word. There couldn’t have been a more perfect setting than wintertime in the moors of Yorkshire. The stark landscape and heavy snow cutting them off from the rest of the world added to the eerie tone of the story, as well as the local legends of ghosts and unexplained occurrences. I easily connected with Grace’s character. She was brave, strong and determined to find closure for herself and her young daughter. I loved how the mystery of Adam’s disappearance played out to a surprising and emotional ending. BENEATH THE SHADOWS is sure to be an enjoyable read for fans of suspenseful mysteries with a touch of the paranormal.
A year passes with no word from Adam, so Grace decides to return to Hawthorne Cottage to try and solve the mystery herself. The not knowing is slowly eating away at her sanity, and besides, if Adam doesn’t come back, she needs to go through the decades of memories stored in the cottage so the place can be sold. As she searches for clues, she discovers old letters and family secrets meant to stay buried. The more clues she uncovers, the more she’s certain that something sinister happened to Adam rather than him simply running away.
BENEATH THE SHADOWS was an intriguing blend of mystery and eerie modern gothic, and I was entranced from the beginning to end. I enjoyed Ms. Foster’s engaging writing style. The story flowed smoothly, and she definitely kept me hanging on to every word. There couldn’t have been a more perfect setting than wintertime in the moors of Yorkshire. The stark landscape and heavy snow cutting them off from the rest of the world added to the eerie tone of the story, as well as the local legends of ghosts and unexplained occurrences. I easily connected with Grace’s character. She was brave, strong and determined to find closure for herself and her young daughter. I loved how the mystery of Adam’s disappearance played out to a surprising and emotional ending. BENEATH THE SHADOWS is sure to be an enjoyable read for fans of suspenseful mysteries with a touch of the paranormal.
September 18, 2021
Should I be allowed to rate my own books?!! Then again, if I can't send Beneath the Shadows on its way with a farewell hug and one five-star rating then that seems a bit of a shame! I have given it five stars because I am so proud of it and love my heroine Grace, her feisty sister Annabel, and even some of the more suspicious characters you'll come across while reading about Grace's search for her missing husband. I hope that its readers thoroughly enjoy the ride.
July 23, 2022
Meh, it was okay. I didn’t find myself engaged enough to keep up with all the characters, and by the “big reveals” toward the end I had stopped caring.
October 24, 2020
Beneath the Shadows is a gothic suspense novel by Sara Foster. When Grace's husband Adam inherits a cottage in an isolated North Yorkshire Moors they through that, it would be an excellent opportunity to make a new life away from London. However, the happy and enjoyable outcome Grace and Adam through did not happen. Adam disappears a week after they arrive at the cottage. The readers of Beneath the Shadows will continue to follow Grace to see what happens.
Beneath the Shadows is the first book, I have read of Sara Foster. I enjoyed reading Beneath the Shadows. Reading Beneath the Shadows, I also learn about the genre call Gothic Suspense. I love Sara Foster portrayal of her characters and the way they intertwine with each other throughout this book. Beneath the Shadows is well written and researched by Sara Foster. I like Sara Foster description of the settings of Beneath the Shadows that allow me to imagine being part of the plot of this book.
The readers of Beneath the Shadows will learn about living in the North Yorkshire Moors. Also, the readers of Beneath the Shadows will start to understand the consequences for family's legal and personal when love one goes missing.
I recommend this book.
Beneath the Shadows is the first book, I have read of Sara Foster. I enjoyed reading Beneath the Shadows. Reading Beneath the Shadows, I also learn about the genre call Gothic Suspense. I love Sara Foster portrayal of her characters and the way they intertwine with each other throughout this book. Beneath the Shadows is well written and researched by Sara Foster. I like Sara Foster description of the settings of Beneath the Shadows that allow me to imagine being part of the plot of this book.
The readers of Beneath the Shadows will learn about living in the North Yorkshire Moors. Also, the readers of Beneath the Shadows will start to understand the consequences for family's legal and personal when love one goes missing.
I recommend this book.
December 18, 2020
A young family moves to a remote town. Shortly after, a father and husband disappears without a trace. A mistery indeed. The wife, ofcourse tries to fugure out what happened to her husband, refuses to believe that her husband could have left her and the baby. This all sounds intruiging, but for me, there was lack of action while the protagonist was trying to figure out what happened. Did I expect the outcome that the book suggested? No, I did not. Was I on my toes to get to the end of the book to figure it out? No, not really...
3 words about the book
Slow motion book
3 words about the book
Slow motion book
February 8, 2022
This book confused me on so many levels. There was so much build up and exposition and minutia about Grace's every move that I thought surely it was all connected or we were leading up to something. The final reveal fell flat and rather than being a satisfying or thrilling conclusion I just felt like, well, that was a book. I resent the review that assured me I would need to sleep with the lights on after reading this book. If you do sleep w the lights on, it will be in an attempt to stay awake while reading this story.
September 25, 2020
AUTHOR Foster, Sara
TITLE Beneath the Shadows
DATE READ 09/23/20
RATING 3.5./C+
FIRST SENTENCE
GENRE/ PUB DATE/PUBLISHER / # OF Gothic Suspense/2019/hoopla audio/ 9 hr 40 min
SERIES/STAND-ALONE SA
CHALLENGE Good Reads 2020 Reading Goal 167/120;
GROUP READ GR Mystery
TIME/PLACE 2018/England
CHARACTERS Grace and Adam
COMMENTS I do enjoy gothic suspense and was looking forward to this one but found it very disappointing. Just went on & on w/o satisfying payoff.
TITLE Beneath the Shadows
DATE READ 09/23/20
RATING 3.5./C+
FIRST SENTENCE
GENRE/ PUB DATE/PUBLISHER / # OF Gothic Suspense/2019/hoopla audio/ 9 hr 40 min
SERIES/STAND-ALONE SA
CHALLENGE Good Reads 2020 Reading Goal 167/120;
GROUP READ GR Mystery
TIME/PLACE 2018/England
CHARACTERS Grace and Adam
COMMENTS I do enjoy gothic suspense and was looking forward to this one but found it very disappointing. Just went on & on w/o satisfying payoff.
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