A SONG ONCE HEARD by ANNE GORING

A SONG ONCE HEARD

BY ANNE GORING

THE BLURB:-

When rich, handsome Daniel Penhale proposes to Sophy Beardmore, she is swift to accept. The marriage seems to offer the security and respectability she has always dreamed of in a life overshadowed by her mother's feckless, radical way of living.

But Daniel's wealth has not made Kildower, his Cornish house, a happy place. It is haunted by old memories, not least those of his first wife. Meraud. No one seems to know the true facts about her death, though rumours and suspicions abound, fostered by the tragic legends that cling to Kildower.

Daniel's young daughter, Kensa, is resentful and sullen, her nurse, Jess Southcote, is sly and manipulative, the local people hostile. Then there is Meraud's brother Conan, who seems determined to strike up a friendship with Sophy, but out of what dubious motives?

Only when Sophy has unravelled the truth about the past and faced up to her true feelings for both Conan and Daniel himself can she find the happiness she seeks.

THE REALITY:-

I picked this up in a charity shop and then had to question why- a saga set in 1830s Cornwall would surely contain moral characters, set in moral times and be quite...boring? Wouldn't it? A bit like one of those light, bright and trite “heart-warming” women's magazine serials?

Thankfully, no. This wasn't the case at all. The leading lady, Sophy, comes from a dissipate background with a hedonistic mother, and it is this life she is trying to move away from, and claim her own identity. This book contained many little stories within it, and you find yourself rooting for our heroine, as you just know that she's a fundamentally good person (as opposed to some of the forces she is up against).

I was so grateful that the blurb did not contain comparisons to “Rebecca”, as so many West Country novels, set in big rambling houses where the husband has issues with his former wife do, as this book is nothing like it.

I enjoyed the real, gritty element of all the people I met in this book (especially Captain Penhale), the supernatural and rustic element of suspected ghosts and shrines to the gods and I certainly picked up on the latent passion between Sophy and both Daniel and Con.

With an unusual ending, this novel was a real eye-opener, and I would definitely read books by this author again.