Wednesday 5 March 2014

Book Review: Devil in the Corner by Patricia Elliott

The horror of being unmarried Victorian woman is real.

Penniless, and escaping the horrors of life as a governess to brutal households, Maud seeks refuge with the cousin-by-marriage she never knew. But Juliana quashes Maud's emerging friendships with the staff and locals - especially John, the artist commissioned to restore the sinister Doom in the local church. John, however, is smitten with Maud and makes every effort to woo her.
Maud, isolated and thwarted at every turn, continues to take the laudanum which was her only solace in London. Soon she becomes dependent on the drug - so is this the cause of her fresh anxieties? Or is someone - or something - plotting her demise?
Is the devil in the corner of the Doom a reality, or a figment of her imagination?


The plot has moments of lacking and it is bit cliché. I found myself bored through certain parts. The pace is quite slow. Usually just waiting for something to happen. I do like the ending and it is a very Victorian. The major plot is well done, not overly obvious. There is a good build up. 

The characters are alright. They are Victorianly unlikable. I didn't care for the main characters much but that could be blamed on the fact that they're Victorian. It works for the book though when comes to plot thing. You do want things to turn out right for them. I did spend some time shouting at a certain character.

I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars for drug addiction. I did enjoy this book, I liked it. It’s just that there nothing brilliant about it. I do think this is a very good portray of Victorian culture though. That it is well done: Sexism and everything.

I got this book off NetGalley for review. It's published tomorrow by Hachette Children's Books.

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