The Shadow Year - Hannah Richell

'She just can't seem to shake the feeling that the old place is trying to tell her something.'

In this novel we meet Lila, an unhappy young woman who has suffered a devastating loss. She is struggling to cope with this; she suffers feelings of guilt, and her relationship with her husband Tom is under strain. She receives a mysterious, anonymous inheritance; a remote cottage in the Peak District. Intrigued, and looking for an escape, she decides to renovate the place, which is much in need of it. She finds traces of the previous occupants, and wonders about who they were, and why it seems like they left the cottage quite suddenly. Whilst there, she has a sense that she isn't alone, that someone may be watching her. 

Back in 1980, a group of five graduates spend a warm summer's day heading out to a remote spot in the countryside, where they discover a cottage by a lake in an idyllic spot. The place seems to be abandoned, and the seed of an idea is sown. They could spend a year here, before joining the rest of society, they could escape and live quietly and be as self reliant as possible. It seems like a dream and it starts well. But then as winter sets in and a visitor arrives, the realities become harsher and the strains being to show. 

The narrative switches back and forth between the two strands in alternate chapters, with the tale structured such that the writer has kept the months aligned, so that we read about December 1980 and then December in the present, which maintains the sense of the gradually passing year in each case, the changing seasons playing their part in the sights, smells and surroundings that form a backdrop to the story. 

What happens in the past is slowly revealed, and the repercussions on the present are also gradually shown. This writer gets to the heart of relationships and creates interesting characters representing both likeable and less pleasant aspects of human nature, and she places these creations in challenging situations. There's a strong sense of place and the cottage, lake and surrounds become almost like characters in themselves and it's easy to see how someone might become captivated by such a place.

Hannah Richell has weaved an involving tale that grows into an emotional, evocative read about secrets and about how people can be driven by motives of love, desire and jealousy, to act in a way that they think is for the best for others, whether that is the reality or not, and whatever the real, painful impact might be. I thought the plot was cleverly constructed and although I guessed at some of the mysteries within the story, I was certainly surprised by some as well. Though I would have preferred the story to have been a little shorter at times, overall I enjoyed escaping into this very readable story and discovering what would happen to the characters in this tangle of lives and how the two storylines would meet. 

Published by Orion

Thanks to the publisher for kindly sending a proof copy of this novel.

You can follow the author on twitter @HannahRichell and visit her website here.