KIRKLAND REVELS (Gothic Suspense-England-1800s) – G+Holt, Victoria – 2nd bookFawcett Crest, 1962-US PaperbackFirst Sentence: I met Gabriel and Friday on the same day, and, strangely enough I lost them together; so that thereafter, I was never able to think of one without the other.*** Catherine Corder marries Gabriel Rockwell more out of affection and to escape an unaffectionate father than out of real love. Shortly after returning to Gabriel’s home of Kirkland Revels and being introduced to Gabriel’s family, one of whom think she is a fortune hunter, Gabriel dies of apparent suicide. Cathy finds she is pregnant and she is being terrorized by a vanishing monk, things disappearing and being made to question her sanity.*** It was fun to read this again after probably almost 40 years. I was amazed how much I still enjoyed it. It is a classic gothic suspense with the gutsy female protagonist, a large, brooding building, an undefined threat to her life, sanity and/or child, and a romantic interest to support her. I really enjoyed it.
This is one of Holt's better stories. I still love the pictures she creates with words. This story had a few twists that threw me off a bit, which I haven't experienced in any of the more recent reads of Holt's. Catherine Corder is a naive yet strong woman who hastily marries the mysterious Gabriel. She is received rather cooly by her in-laws, expecially Ruth, Gabriel's sister. This behavior is alleged to be due to the fact that Catherine and Gabriel married after knowing each other for so little time. So many strange and frightening events occur to Catherine until and her sanity is put into question, especially since she is now pregnant and risks losing her baby. With the help of Gabriel's cousin Simon Redvers, Catherine is able to untangle the secrets and lies.
What do You think about Kirkland Revels (1994)?
Fun dive back into my teenage reading habits with this classic Victoria Holt.I used to devour Holt, and still have several in storage. This one I bought at a used book sale at my local library.Every Holt book follows a predictable plotline and has interchangable heros, heroines and villians. I say that like it's a bad thing, but truthfully it's comforting to snuggle up with a Holt book and be charmed by the fiesty, plain heroine and her verbal duels with the attractive, always amused hero.Good literary comfort snack food.
—Hannah
We own this as part of an anthology, Gothic Treasure Trove:
—Angela Alcorn
A very entertaining novel. This would be the second written under the Victoria Holt name and I enjoyed it much more than the first. I felt that this plot wasn't as predictable and had plenty of twists and intrigue. At a few points I found myself countering between several who the main culprit could be. Some part of me felt that some of the story was vaguely familiar leaving me to wonder if I had, in fact, read this book years ago as a teenager and had forgotten mostly about it. If that is the case, I'm very glad that I didn't recall the ending.
—Christy Johnson
