Merilance; a place awash with gloom and grey, a home for a perpetual state of despair that desolates a child’s spark, turning it to ash; it’s a place where hope can be glimpsed in a dream, and even then, for only a fleeting moment.
The reality of life is all the more difficult a pill to swallow for Oliva Prior, one of the unfortunate residents of Merilance; a home school for the abandoned and forgotten.
Not to wallow in grief for the poor hand she’s dealt, Oliva is resilient, tough and is a pure joy to read. This isn’t a coming-of-age tale; Schwab writes Oliva battled hardened and determined from the outset.
From the haunted corridors and ghoul invested dorms of Merilance to the mysterious and equally haunted halls of Gallant, an isolated mansion with which hope springs true, Oliva traverses a delicate landscape filled with fantastical imagery and monsters of man and nightmare.
This is top shelf gothic horror with added layers of complexity by virtue of a deeply rooted family drama complimented by a protagonist who leaps off the page to capture the hearts and minds of readers.
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