Atmosphere and Mystery. A Review of The Forgotten Maid

I feel as if I ought o open this blog with an apology to Jane Cable, because I've had a copy of her book The Forgotten Maid for simply ages without getting around to reviewing it. Sorry, Jane! Anyway, here goes:

Set in Cornwall, The Forgotten Maid is a dual-time romantic mystery novel which shifts between the present and Regency times in the aftermath of Waterloo. I think the best way to describe the plot is to call it haunting – not because this is a ghost story as such, but because of the atmosphere Jane Cable creates. Her great skill, which I first came across in the outstanding Another You, is to intertwine the present with the past and to keep the plot evolving through unexpected twists and turns, so that, as a reader, every time you think you’re on top of the mystery, it turns out you aren’t.

I thought that maybe Anna, the heroine of the present-day thread, might dominate the story because the early chapters belong to her, but I found myself just as absorbed by the tale of Therese, the girl in the past.

I particularly want to mention the book’s strong sense of time and place. Cornwall is clearly a setting Jane Cable knows well and her love for it shines through in the quality of her descriptive writing.

The Forgotten Maid is an engrossing read, loaded with atmosphere and mystery. There is a compassionate and honest look at grief and the ways in which a person can feel alone. Personal struggles are explored, as is the way in which friendship can grow and develop. Jane Cable is a talented author whose books intrigue her readers.

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Jane Cable's author page on Amazon