Black Rabbit Hall

Black Rabbit Hall by Eve Chase
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Black Rabbit Hall is an absorbing family drama full of history, love, tragedy, and suspense set on a gothic Cornish estate. The story is seen through the point of view of Amber and Lorna, two people who feel tied to Black Rabbit Hall for different reasons. While Amber is a teenaged-girl and Lorna is a grown woman, Black Rabbit seems to call to them, even when they wish they could break away.
The author does a wonderful job of creating a picture of the house and grounds, so the reader can picture it, feel it, hear it, even smell it. The descriptions are very detailed, sometimes almost to the point of exasperation on the reader's part--we think, "Get on with it! We don't need to know what color the apron was, or what kind of legs are on the wardrobe, or what color a random circle on the globe is!" But what the reader begins to realize is that the author is leaving us little clues. All of the rich detail is actually a trail of breadcrumbs to help us piece together, along with Lorna, what happened at Black Rabbit Hall in the late 1060's.
The reader gets to know everyone through Amber's eyes, and then later, to an extent, Lorna's as well. We see events unfold through the course of about two years, and then see Lorna attempt to make sense of these events decades later. Because of the semi-limited points-of-view, a few of the characters can come off as not very well-developed. In actuality we are just seeing these characters from the perspective of a 15-year-old girl, which means she views these people from her own lens. Hugo might seem flat, Caroline like a cliche, and one is never quite sure if Rupert is to be trusted. But that is how Amber sees them.
A sense of foreboding permeates this book. The reader just knows something terrible is going to happen. And when it does, the tension is not relieved--it is always there, just in the background, until it begins to build again. Even at the end, when connections are made, people are forgiven, and lives are rebuilt, there is still a feeling of "what if," of sadness over tragedies that did not have to be.
This was a book that stayed with me, that pulled me in and did not let go even after I was finished reading. I felt Amber's loss, I felt her confusion, her despair, and her fragile hope. I felt Kitty and Barney's pure young joy in life, and I felt Nancy's deep and true love for her babies.
This book begs to be read a second time, to pick out all the clues the author left for the reader. I would definitely recommend it to others, and I feel as though it is an incredible book.


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