Review: The Woman in the Mirror

The Woman in the Mirror by Rebecca James
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

The Woman in the Mirror is a classic gothic novel with two timelines. The first, with a young woman named Alice, is set in 1947 post-war England. After going through the war years, Alice is happy to escape London for a job as a governess to two children in fictional Polcreath, Cornwall, at Winterborne Hall, which is owned by war veteran Jonathan de Grey. Edmund and Constance de Grey are twin eight-year-olds. They might be a handful since their last governess left with no notice. Is the house haunted or is there something sinister afoot? His ancestor Ivan de Grey has done something dastardly as the prologue tells us, back in 1802, so Winterborne Hall has something of a dark history. Meanwhile, in the present day, Rachel, whose adoptive parents died when she was eighteen, is increasingly unmoored in New York. Her search for her biological mother back in England only reveals that her mother died not long after she was born and no father's name was recorded. But one day a letter comes from the UK revealing that she has ties to the de Grey family in Cornwall. When Rachel travels to Cornwall she finds a dark history reveals in Constance's journal, including about Alice. What is it that is like a shroud over Winterborne Hall? Who is it?

This was a diverting, atmospheric read. Reminiscent of both Rebecca and The Woman in Black, the novel portrays the lasting legacy of a woman wronged. The Woman in the Mirror was first published in 2018 but has been re-released in a beautiful hardcover edition.

I received a review copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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