by Isobel Blackthorn

Book Information

Purchase link: https://books2read.com/u/mvBPjj
Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199234701-what-happened-at-the-abbey
Genre: Gothic mystery, melodrama
Print length: 324 pages; 94K words
Age range: This is an adult book but suitable for mature older teenagers
Trigger warnings: off-scene marital abuse
Amazon rating: New release, not yet rated

ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED AT THE ABBEY

When Ingrid flees a violent husband to become a housekeeper in the Scottish Highlands, she discovers the family she works for has a much darker history than her own.

Who haunts Strathbairn? Why are the adult McCleod children at each other’s throats? And why does the youngest sneak off at night? As Ingrid searches for answers, she grows ever more fearful that her husband will track her down.

Set in late 19th century Scottish Highlands, WHAT HAPPENED AT THE ABBEY is a gothic mystery brimming with intrigue, ghostly drama, and family secrets.

PRAISE FOR WHAT HAPPENED AT THE ABBEY

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I thoroughly enjoyed this story which seemed to throw up one mystery after another….

I loved this book which kept me enthralled and entertained to the very last page. Thoroughly recommended! 5 big stars. Amazon review

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

…Sinister goings on have happened there in the past and continue to the present day. Nobody can be trusted, and you, the reader will analyse each character with a critical eye. What is going on here? Can Ingrid unlock the mystery and save herself before her husband finds her, or has fate got something else in store? Goodreads review

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Isobel Blackthorn is an award-winning author of unique and engaging fiction. She writes gripping mysteries, historical fiction and dark psychological thrillers. Her Canary Islands collection begins with The Drago Tree and includes A Matter of Latitude, Clarissa’s Warning and A Prison in the Sun. Her interest in the occult is explored in The Unlikely Occultist: A biographical novel of Alice A. Bailey and the dark mystery A Perfect Square.

Her dark thriller The Cabin Sessions was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award 2018 and the Ditmar Awards 2018. Isobel’s biographical short story ‘Nothing to Declare’ which forms the first chapter of Emma’s Tapestry was shortlisted for the Ada Cambridge Prose Prize 2019. A Prison in the Sun was shortlisted in the LGBTQ category of the Readers’ Favorite Book Awards 2020 and the International Book Awards 2021. And The Unlikely Occultist: A biographical novel of Alice A. Bailey received an Honorable Mention in the 2021 Reader’s Favorite Book Awards.

Isobel writes non fiction too. She is the author of the world’s only biography of Theosophist and mother of the New Age movement Alice Bailey – Alice A. Bailey: Life & Legacy.

Isobel’s first work, which she wrote in 2008, is Voltaire’s Garden. This memoir is set in the mid 2000s and tells the story of building a sustainable lifestyle B&B in Cobargo on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia, which gained international attention when a firestorm razed the idyllic historic village on New Year’s Eve 2019.

Isobel’s writing appears in journals and websites around the world, including Esoteric Quarterly, New Dawn Magazine, Paranoia, Mused Literary Review, Trip Fiction, Backhand Stories, Fictive Dream and On Line Opinion. Isobel was a judge for the Shadow Awards 2020 long fiction category. Her book reviews have appeared in New Dawn Magazine, Esoteric Quarterly, Shiny New Books, Sisters in Crime, Australian Women Writers, Trip Fiction and Newtown Review of Books.

Isobel’s interests are many and varied. She has a long-standing association with the Canary Islands, having lived in Lanzarote in the late 1980s. A humanitarian and campaigner for social justice, in 1999 Isobel founded the internationally acclaimed Ghana Link, uniting two high schools, one a relatively privileged state school located in the heart of England, the other a materially impoverished school in a remote part of the Upper Volta region of Ghana, West Africa.

Isobel has a background in Western Esotericism. She holds 1st Class Honours in Social Studies, and a PhD from the University of Western Sydney for her ground-breaking research on the works of Alice A. Bailey. After working as a teacher, market trader and PA to a literary agent, she arrived at writing in her forties, and her stories are as diverse and intriguing as her life has been.

Isobel has performed her literary works at events in a range of settings and given workshops in creative writing.

British by birth, Isobel entered this world in Farnborough, Kent, She has lived in England, Australia, Spain and the Canary Islands.

Website: https://isobelblackthorn.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/IBlackthorn
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/isobelblackthorn/

My Thoughts

Why would an educated woman leave a comfortable home in Hampshire with her daughter for the Scottish Highlands to take up the role of a housekeeper, having been used to having staff of her own? To escape the clutches of an abusive and tormenting husband, that’s why?
With the little savings she has amassed and a job arranged for by her bishop, Ingrid Barker and daughter, Susan head for pastures new, Ingrid having persuaded Susan to tell anyone who asks that her father is dead. It’s a big ask of a seven-year-old, but fortunately Straithbairn is so remote that they have few people to lie to. And, they’re not the most hospitable bunch either, certainly not the type to whom Ingrid would want to tell her life history, assuming they showed any interest in her anyway. In fact, they are some of the rudest and most inhospitable people she has ever met, both upstairs and down.
While Ingrid hopes she has made the right decision to flee Hampshire, Straithbairn is a difficult place in which to enjoy life. Her employer, a drunken bully; his children, three grudge-bearing, bickering and damaged siblings; the staff, wary and unrelenting. And everyone has a secret that they’re happy to scream at each other about, but no-one will enlighten Ingrid as to why nothing seems to make any of them happier. So much angst, so many secrets, so much moody tension.
The grim atmosphere of the outside is reflected inside and there is little light relief until another young man, Hamish, arrives as an unexpected party guest. With Hamish, Ingrid gets to explore the nearby abbey, take picnics and see the glorious sunsets. Could Hamish be the one to bring her the happiness she seeks? Or will her husband discover her whereabouts?
The dreary state of the big house, the miserable family and their arguments, mysterious letters and diaries, the murkiness of the surrounding bog and the abandoned abbey, and not forgetting the smell of sage in the attic… all make for a tense gothic novel filled with intrigue and drama.

I was initially caught out by the sudden change in point-of-view and recognising the switch wasn’t always obvious. It’s also a darker read than I’m used to when reading historical fiction, and a little too heavy on descriptive detail that I found myself skimming at times, but it gets full marks for creepiness and for the most dysfunctional family ever. Fans of gothic hist-fic will lap it up.

PS – to get a better of the chilling tone of the story, check out this brief trailer.