Review: Charlotte Says

Review:

I received a copy from Netgalley.

 

An enjoyable creepy prequel to Frozen Charlotte. I remember Frozen Charlotte vaguely, and it was really the hot pink cover on the prequel that drew me in. I don’t really like prequels, but I thought I’d give this a shot. Went into it without looking at reviews or anything, just going off the synopsis.

 

It’s a historical set at a gloomy boarding school in the Isle of Sky in 1910. The main character Jemima has gone there with an assistant teaching position after the deaths of her mother and stepfather. Something horrible happened and Jemima is tormented with flashbacks as the novel opens. The opening catches the misery and nasty weather perfectly. The school is an institution for non-criminal destitute girls to teach them working skills. Mostly serving work.

 

Jemima is late on arrival and reprimanded immediately by the horrible ogre of a head mistress, the nasty school maid gives her a hard time. The only saving grace is her childhood friend Henry who lives nearby and works at the school as well. Some sort of butler/ grounds keeper. She gets along with the children, who treat her with respect. She’s appalled at the way the headmistress treats and frequently punishes the children for the slightest infractions.

 

It’s very well written and atmospheric. It’s certainly got a sense of gloom and foreboding to the storytelling, and at moments is downright creepy. Through flashbacks we learn more about Jemima’s history with her mother (there’s no father in the picture) – her mother posed as a “medium” to make money. She attracts the attention of a rich and powerful man who woos her into marrying him, but he of course, has sinister motives for marrying a medium. Things got bad quickly after the marriage and took a dark and unpleasant turn.

 

At the start of the novel, a box arrives for Jemima of Frozen Charlotte dolls and a big doll house, which she donates to the school. Shortly after, Jemima starts seeing scary things out the corner of her eye, thinking she’s hearing things – people taking to her who aren’t there. The behaviour of some of the children starts rapidly changing, accidents happen, and fatalities start happening. And when questioned the children all have the same answer – the dolls did it. The Frozen Charlottes told them to.

 

Jemima was a likeable character, she had a no nonsense attitude about her, but showed a softer side in how she interacted and cared for the children, helped them when no one else would. There’s not much lightness to the story, it’s a murky one and unpleasant. Though Henry is Jemima’s light in the dark and even though she tries to deny her feelings for him, she can’t hold it in. The other characters were well written – the maid and the school mistress were really awful people. (The sort you hope something nasty will happen to).

 

There was quite a dark twist at the end when things started unravelling and truths were revealed. And a creepy end that left me with a twisted grin.

 

All in all a thoroughly enjoyable read if you like horror-themed mysteries.

 

Thank you to Netgalley and Stripes Publishing/Little Tiger Group for the review copy

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