Fans of “Rebecca” Will Love This Mysterious Gothic Horror

The Third Wife of Faraday House by B.R. Myers

“… a spooky Gothic novel that feels like a satisfying cross between and homage to Charlotte Brontë’s ‘Jane Eyre’ and Daphne du Maurier’s ‘Rebecca’.”

B.R. Myers won the coveted Mary Higgins Clark Award in 2023 for her best-selling novel A Dreadful Splendor, reviewed here in 2022.  She has written several School Library Journal selected “top picks” YA novels.  Her contemporary romance novels have been published under her pseudonym Daphne Dubois.

Prior to becoming a full-time author, she worked 32 years as a registered nurse in her hometown of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Set in Halifax and on a nearby isolated island during the Regency period, The Third Wife of Faraday House is a spooky Gothic novel that feels like a satisfying cross between and homage to Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca.

Gothic Regency-Era Mystery

Halifax was the headquarters for the British Royal Naval Dockyard at the beginning of the French and Indian Wars in 1758 and continued to serve as the main North America base during the American and French Revolutionary Wars as well as the War of 1812. Bermuda had been the Royal Navy winter base since the early 1800s which ties in perfectly with the plot and timeline of this gripping novel. Peace with the French Acadians and the nomadic Mi’kmaq, the indigenous people of Canada’s Maritime Provinces, ushered in the beginning of a prosperous era. Class-conscious English settlers transported British traditions, perceived genteel customs and strict rules of etiquette to Nova Scotia. In 1816, at the outset of The Third Wife of Faraday House, a wide variety of businesses serve the population of approximately 8000 with the largest employer being the Royal Navy Dockyard. 

Twenty-year-old protagonist/narrator Emeline Fitzgerald is blond, beautiful and seriously naïve. She is a tragic but courageous heroine in the classic tradition of Gothic romance/mysteries; a dreamy-eyed orphan in reduced circumstances filled with hopes for love and marriage. Her shopkeeper father died in a freak accident when she was ten leaving behind a handful of memories along with a mountain of debt. Her mother was subsequently invited by childhood friend Mrs. Shackleton and her husband, an esteemed judge, to temporarily move into their grand home. She, too, met death by a curious mishap within a month of their arrival. 

The Search for an Eligible Suitor

Dismayed but bound by Christian duty and prompted by the even more dominant fear of societal disapproval, the Shackletons reluctantly became Emeline’s guardians. Guided neither by love nor generosity of spirit, Mrs. Shackleton, whose word was law inside the home, provided food, shelter and clothing. 

As the child grew older, her attire was upgraded, specifically with the design to attract a financially fit suitor able to provide for his bride. Emeline received a rudimentary education augmented through her love of reading which was facilitated by access to the Judge’s extensive library. 

His good wife failed to supply instruction in even the most basic skills required of a young woman of good breeding nor was she taught even elementary culinary arts or household management. No money was squandered instructing her to sing or play a musical instrument, to draw or paint; likewise embroidery, fine sewing and lacemaking were not encompassed in the Shackleton curricula.  

Her exceptional beauty was deemed sufficient to pave the way out of the household and the sooner the better. To that end, Mrs. Shackleton scoured the city and countryside for eligible men without any concern as to their age, appearance or compatibility.  

Desperate to escape the dreary household and unbeknownst to her guardians, Emeline had fallen under the spell of Lieutenant Frederick Fletcher, a favorite officer who accompanied frequent Shackleton dinner guest Admiral of the Royal Navy. This strikingly handsome officer clad in full dress uniform proffered extravagant promises of marriage complete with an island paradise home in Bermuda where he soon would be stationed. 

The fair maiden unwisely succumbed to his charms. In a foreshadowing of the Carole King/Gerry Goffin hit tune sung by The Shirelles, “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?” the answer later returned as a resounding “NO!” His intentions had never been honorable nor had he ever had marriage on his mind. Despite a bombardment of pleading letters, he ignored Emeline’s entreaties and refrained from visiting the Shackleton household for seven weeks. Desperate to announce their engagement, she waylaid the scoundrel at the Admiral’s ball where she inappropriately planted impassioned kisses and embraces while unsuccessfully pleading her case. Unfortunately, they were within sight and earshot of Mrs. Shackleton and her coterie.  

The scandalous disgrace was complete as Emeline instantly became the juiciest talk of the town gossips.  Her choices immediately narrowed to relegation to a distant convent or the acceptance of an offer of marriage from twice-widowed sea merchant Captain Graves of Faraday Hall. He was older, a wealthy trader and owner of sawmills and other enterprises who lived in a small community on a private island. Faraday Island was accessible by land during low tide on one side by foot, horse carriage or wagon and otherwise by sea.  

To her mind, anything would be preferable to spending her life among French nuns! With great alacrity, the Shackletons sent a letter of acceptance, had her scant belongings packed and shipped her off the following morning without so much as a farewell, fond or otherwise.  

Secrets are Revealed on a Sheltered Island

Emeline deluded herself believing Lt. Fletcher would sail to the sheltered island, sweep her off her feet and transport her to their future home in Bermuda. Ha! More unpleasantness awaited her. Captain Graves was a dour, ill-mannered and generally rather unhygienic individual as well as a controlling bully who had deliberately neglected to reveal that his second wife Georgina, who although gravely ill, was far from being dead and buried. 

First wife Esther had died in childbirth a decade earlier and second wife Georgina had been unable to conceive and was thus a grave and unacceptable disappointment to one who demanded a son and heir. The cruelly pragmatic captain believed in solid preparation and thus a marriage license was already prepared for a swift third marriage following an imminent funeral. Emeline soon learned his wives were not permitted to leave the island. One saving grace for the present was he deemed it would be improper to engage in relations with her until after the wedding. 

Haunting, Mysterious and Gripping

The Third Wife of Faraday House has a decidedly uneasy welcome into this house of horrors. Her room with a locked door leading to an overhead widow’s walk that no one else can access is obviously haunted. There are footsteps heard nightly walking … pacing … striding … that keep her awake. Blood stains spread in damp pink splatters visible above her bed. There are great, deep pits dug along the cliffside to trap, injure or kill the unwary. Georgina’s nurse had already fled the house in alarm after spending but one night in Emeline’s room. 

Who can be trusted?  Is someone out to kill her as well as Georgina? The housemaid Hetty seems to have designs on Captain Graves. Mr. Clayton maintains the property and fetches supplies from town. Mrs. Clayton is housekeeper and cook and nursing Georgina has been added to her duties. They have worked for the captain for more than a decade. They are pleasant but are those potions and tinctures Mrs. Clayton serves in tea producing hallucinations and/or slowly poisoning the wives? Can the stories she spins about first wife Esther be true? 

Emeline defies orders and befriends the second wife. The only outside friend the two women have is the handsome Reverend Pellerine who comes to the house almost daily to minister to Georgina. Gradually he becomes Emeline’s confidante. Dastardly deeds and ghastly murder will come out before this deeply atmospheric gothic tale of mild horror comes to an end. Best keep a night light on and listen for bumps in the night!

B.R. Myers has written a haunting story suitable for all readers of gothic mysteries.

Publish Date: 8/20/2024

Genre: Horror, Mystery

Author: B.R. Myers

Page Count: 352 pages

Publisher: William Morrow

ISBN: 9780063209879