Eloise

De: Judy Finnigan

Narrado por: Anna Bentinck

Yesterday I almost saw her.

I was standing on the sun deck, looking out to sea, revelling in the unexpected warmth of the February sun. A butterfly trembled on a nearby buddleia and suddenly I smelled her perfume.

She wasn't there, of course. How could she be when I had seen her lying in her coffin just two weeks ago, the day before she was buried, her casket surrounded by the scented candles she loved?

She lay in Cornish ground now....

She was a daughter, a wife, a mother. She was a friend. But what secrets did Eloise take to her grave? Compulsively listenable and haunting, this is the Sunday Times best-selling debut novel from Book Club champion Judy Finnigan.

©2012 Judy Finnigan (P)2013 Hachette Audio

Ho hum

A mildly interesting plot, but the story suffers because a 21st-century woman is the protagonist of a 1930s- or 1940s-style ghost story set in Cornwall, with all the fragility and deference to her husband that one sees in books and movies of that period. Daphne du Maurier's books seem to be the author's model, and, indeed, the main character is said to have been a fan. Unfortunately, Du Maurier's characters are anachronisms nowadays, so nothing rings true in this book.

Unseen Eloise, Unseen Rebecca

Any additional comments?

I was enjoyably haunted with Eloise. I envisioned UK television personality Judy Finnegan as Cathy and her husband Richard, as Chris! The locale and references to Du Maurier evoked memories of another unseen title character, Rebecca.