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To make matters worse, a body, dragged from the Thames, is identified as Elizabeth Smith, who lodged with Grace and her family for the last eight years before suddenly disappearing.
It’s 1919 and Grace Armstrong, like many other young women, is mourning the loss of her fiancé and brother in the Great War. She has done her best to move on – having served as a VAD nurse during the war, she is now pursuing a career as a journalist with the London periodical Nursing World – but she is still haunted by the thought that her fiancé Robert, reported Missing in Action at the Somme, could still be alive. Meanwhile her mother, struggling to cope with the death of Grace’s brother Edward, is under sedation in a nursing home. It’s a difficult time for the Armstrong family – and is about to get worse when their lodger, Elizabeth Smith, is found drowned in the River Thames. So, this is one of those books. You know the sort, the ones that start out with a bang and then, somehow, petered out. London in 1919, a city of ghosts and absences. Grace Armstrong believes that she has come to terms with her own loss, the death of her fiancé, the brilliant and dazzling best friend of her brother. He was declared Missing in Action during the Battle of the Somme, but he starts to reappear both in her waking life and dreams.Helen Scarlett] has a gift for pulling readers into the twists and turns of her story' SUNDAY TIMES Helen Scarlett] has a gift for pulling readers into the twists and turns of her story * Sunday Times * Grace Armstrong believes that she has come to terms with her own loss, the death of her fiancé, the brilliant and dazzling best friend of her brother. He was declared Missing in Action during the Battle of the Somme, but he starts to reappear both in her waking life and dreams. I was gripped. A clever and richly imagined recreation of the Edwardian world with all its politesse and hypocrisies after the First World War * Elizabeth Buchan, author of TWO WOMEN IN ROME * Side characters. I appreciate the time the author took to research the recovery of people and wounds that will never heal. I liked the themes she discussed with the stories of side characters. But for me, there were too many sub-plots, we didn't have enough time to explore them. In my opinion, it could be better if we had just one or two side characters, but we could feel their story
Helen Scarlett] has a gift for pulling readers into the twists and turns of her story’ SUNDAY TIMES The Lodger is solid entry into the gothic genre. Using the atmospheric London streets during the aftermath of World War I to its advantage, the story follows Grace who is determined to find out the truth of what happened to her missing lodger, Elizabeth. Unfortunately near the end two of the compulsory themes of the decade are dragged in – homophobia and sexual abuse. I assume authors can’t get publishing contracts without them, a bit like the new Oscar rules. At least racism was omitted for once. It’s not that I object to any of these themes – I’d just like them not to be quite so ubiquitous. I love chocolate fudge cake, but I don’t want it with every meal. Believe it or not, there are other aspects of the human condition worth exploring. And in this case, I felt the subjects of loss and renewal were more than sufficient, especially since she dealt with them so well.
Summary
The Lodger’ by Helen Scarlett is a work of historical fiction set in the summer following the end of the Great War. Grace seems to accept the discoveries about Elizabeth's death and life like completing a puzzle. Elizabeth's story is full of secrets and taboos. But the information Grace gathers during the months following Elizabeth's death have no consequence. The final scenario would be exactly the same if the crime of the central plot was any other; and, what should have been the main story of the novel, becomes a secondary plot. A ghostly, immersive mystery threaded with twists and turns as evocative as the 20th-century London in which it is set . . . A devastating reveal and a tangled web I won't forget * Amanda Geard, author of THE MIDNIGHT HOUSE *
If you read this, go in with zero expectations of it being a gothic murder mystery, because it absolutely isn’t 😅 If you enjoy cozy mysteries, with slight dark elements then you may enjoy this! That’s where I began to feel disappointed was because I expected and wanted a gothic mystery novel but didn’t get any of that.Thank you to Quercus and Netgalley for the eARC of The Lodger by Helen Scarlett in exchange for an honest review! All opinions Expressed are my own. The Lodger by Helen Scarlett is a detective taking place in the aftermath of WWI in London. It's full of brooding and grief but also new beginnings and stories of healing.
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