The Death of Jane Lawrence

A Novel

By: Caitlin Starling

Narrated by: Mandy Weston

Best Books of 2021 · NPR
ALA/The Reading List Best Horror 2021 Pick
Longlisted for the Bram Stoker Awards for Superior Achievement in a Novel, 2021

From the Bram Stoker-nominated author of The Luminous Dead comes a gothic fantasy horror—The Death of Jane Lawrence.

"Narrator Mandy Weston's cool narration is the perfect match to this tale, making the twists and turns in the plot especially surprising ...This tale mixes gothic horror, ghosts, and a love story to create a potent listen." - AudioFile Magazine

"A jewel box of a Gothic novel." —New York Times Book Review

“Delicious.... By the time the book reached that point of no return, I was so invested that I would have followed Jane into the very depths of hell.” —NPR.org

“Intense and amazing! It’s like Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell meets Mexican Gothic meets Crimson Peak.” —BookRiot

Practical, unassuming Jane Shoringfield has done the calculations, and decided that the most secure path forward is this: a husband, in a marriage of convenience, who will allow her to remain independent and occupied with meaningful work. Her first choice, the dashing but reclusive doctor Augustine Lawrence, agrees to her proposal with only one condition: that she must never visit Lindridge Hall, his crumbling family manor outside of town.

Yet on their wedding night, an accident strands her at his door in a pitch-black rainstorm, and she finds him changed. Gone is the bold, courageous surgeon, and in his place is a terrified, paranoid man—one who cannot tell reality from nightmare, and fears Jane is an apparition, come to haunt him. By morning, Augustine is himself again, but Jane knows something is deeply wrong at Lindridge Hall, and with the man she has so hastily bound her safety to.

Set in a dark-mirror version of post-war England, Caitlin Starling crafts a new kind of gothic horror from the bones of the beloved canon. This Crimson Peak-inspired story assembles, then upends, every expectation set in place by Shirley Jackson and Rebecca, and will leave readers shaken, desperate to begin again as soon as they are finished.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press

Possibilities, but

To begin with, this story had an excellent narrator. I hope to hear her in other selections.
The story, though properly gothic in atmosphere, losses you along the way with it's overwhelming details of mathematics, hallucinations, and confusing possibilities.
The last 3 hours began to drag so much with it that I found myself listening just to "get it done" and not out of the desire to really know the ending.
Lots of potential taken too far.

Wild ride of mystery

I’m usually quite perceptive when it comes to storylines and where they’re going but this story threw me for a loop. Intriguing, weird, spooky and out of this world.

I loved it

If you like horror-romance, this is the book for you. I absolutely looooved the novel itself, and the audio narration was beautiful.

Last 1/3 dropped the rating

This story began and I was drawn in and fascinated. However, as it began to wrap up with 4 hours left it started dragging a bit. It was bogged down in wordiness and over explanation. The last third would make for a better visual than the writing gave. It as a bit convoluted and confusing and drug on for too long once the door disappears.

Worth the listen if you just want to fill the time before the next book, but easily skippable.

Such a Gothic Riveting Performance

Mandy Weston's reading is incredibly done, and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Caitlin Starling has written such an excellent ghost story that contains so many twists and turns and has you thinking "is this real or am I imagining this"?