Description (from cover):'Grace Alban has spent more than twenty years avoiding her childhood home, the stately Alban House on the shores of Lake Superior. But when her mother's unexpected death brings Grace and her teenage daughter back, she finds more is haunting the halls and passageways of Alban House than her own personal demons.
Long-buried family secrets, a packet of old love letters, and a lost manuscript plunge Grace into a decades-old mystery about a scandalous party at Alban House, when a world-famous author took his own life and Grace's aunt disappeared without a trace. Her mother intended to tell the truth about that night to a reporter on the very day she died--could it have been murder?
With the help of the disarmingly kind--and attractive--Reverend Matthew Parker, Grace must uncover the truth about her home and its curse before she and her daughter become the next victims.'
My thoughts:
WOW! What a fantastic read this was. I enjoyed it immensely. It really reminds me a lot of Kate Morton, Susan Hill and Daphne Du Maurier all rolled into one epic story. At times it was very reminiscent of Kate Morton and her writing style, but then there was a little bit of a paranormal twist that literally left me on the edge of my seat. I was reading this one at my lunch break today and I got almost to the end and then I had to go back to work. I was dying to read the ending and I spent the rest of the workday trying to figure out what was going to happen next. Books rarely have this affect on me, and when they do, I know its a winner.
Wendy Webb creates a beautiful story featuring a stately house, Alban House, that has ancestors with scandalous pasts and the lingering story of a curse. Add a ghost element and plot twists and turns, and you will be on edge. This would have been the perfect book to read on a dark and stormy night just to get an extra kick out of it. Grace Alban returns to Alban House, a place she abandoned due to grief, and must lay her past and fears to rest. She finally becomes comfortable with the house and its previous occupants and then literally all hell breaks loose.
If you want to read a book that will leave you captivated from page one and on the edge of your seat in suspense, then this is the book for you. The author weaves a story that focuses on the present and the past of Alban House and it's hard to resist the pull that you get when reading this one. I enjoyed this one a lot and the ending left room for a sequel. I would love to read about Grace and Alban House some more and I hope we get a chance to return with a sequel. If you enjoyed Kate Morton's books, chances are you will love this one. Run to your nearest bookstore, library, or wherever you get your books and pick this one up right now.
Overall Rating: 5+
Title: The Fate of Mercy Alban
Author: Wendy Webb
Series: N/A
Publisher: Hyperion
Publication Date: February 5, 2013
Pages: 352
Genre: Historical Fiction
Get It: Amazon; Barnes & Noble
Disclaimer: This book was selected from the library by myself and I reviewed this book without compensation of any kind. All thoughts and opinions are solely mine.
